By Sani Idris
The Executive Secretary (ES) of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof. Idris Bugaje, has said that the board’s focus is to increase enrollment of students in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) from the current one per cent to 30 per cent within the next five years.
Bugaje said this at the workshop for review and development of national occupational standards/national skills qualification in 25 occupational areas.
He said that the impact would ensure that in the next two to three years, students graduating from polytechnics and technical colleges would have certified skills to fit into industries.
“When you come out with diploma or NABTEB, it doesn’t necessarily gives you the skill qualification. The minister has stressed that we dwell on certification. Diploma holders must come out with skills certification and NABTEB holders with skills qualification of their choices and areas they have passion for,”he said.
Bugaje disclosed that the NBTE is proposing an excellent proposal for the reinvention, recreation and reengineering of TVET, where China would be a good partner.
“This is the only way Nigerian youths can graduate and have jobs handy. We want to change the narrative of paper qualifications and it can only be done by making TVET institutions attractive”,he said.
The ES lamented that deplorable state technical colleges, stressing that the narrative would change.
He commended the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, for giving the NBTE all the needed support to restructure the TVET sector.
He said the Minister had given permission for the review of education curricula to fit the employment needs of Nigeria.
“The Minister is a medical doctor, the Permanent Secretary is a medical doctor and this is why we are having good development in the education sector,” Bugaje said.
“TVET is moving at a fast pace in Nigeria and it will enhance Nigeria’s productivity. Let us use our potential to develop Nigeria. We are proposing a bailout for our technical colleges so they can have everything needed to promote our TVET institutions,”he said.
Earlier, the Project Manager of the IDEAS PMU, Abbati Dawakin Kudu, explained that the purpose of the workshop was to develop and use effective ways to improve the skills system of Nigeria.
Dawakin Kudu urged the resource persons to use their potentials to design teaching curricula for skills candidates for qualifications from levels one to three of the National Skills Qualification (NSQ) framework.
In a goodwill message, Engr. Abdullahi Aliyu, said the program plays a pivotal role in enhancing the productivity of Nigerian youths and meeting the needs of local industries.
He added that the “lprogram was aimed at addressing numerous problems of the country and would be valuable for its development.
“The outcome of our discussions will definitely be the pathway for the brighter future of our country,”he said.
The representative of the ICT Skills Council, Engineer Mustapha Habu, said the ICT Council is very happy that NOS is being developed for the sector, which will help in catering to industries.
Speaking on behalf of Skills Industries in Nigeria, Engr. Abubakar Sadiq, appreciated the efforts put in by the Executive Secretary of the NBTE in helping the sector develop skill concepts that provide jobs for Nigerian youths both at home and abroad.
The 25 NOS curriculum include Solar PV Installation & Maintenance, Painting, Decoration & Finishes (interior design), Electrical Installations,
Mechanized Agriculture, Blacksmithing, Livestock Farming, Automative Mechatronics, among others.
