Prof. Idris Bugaje, the executive secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), has advised private polytechnics and monotechnics to be creative by adding enticing packages to their educational menu.
At the distribution of operational licences to new polytechnics and monotechnics on Thursday in Abuja, Bugaje performed the invocation.
In addition to receiving their National Diploma, every student must graduate with at least one verified talent, according to him.
According to him, skills are now the universally accepted unit of exchange for labour, and we must capitalise on this by tying our education to relevant sectors of the local economy and promoting apprenticeship programmes.
“Most of the licences today are for private sector and I must appeal to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to do whatever is necessary to assist these institutions with good admission quotas to avoid them folding up.
“Equally necessary, our private polytechnics and monotechnics must become innovative by introducing some attractive packages that will not be found in public polytechnics and monotechnics.
“This is an area you need to think outside the box to bring out something attractive, something innovative, something different and something that you don’t find in the public polytechnics.
“You can, in addition to the national diploma, introduce training skills to your students,” he said.
The executive secretary urged the new polytechnics and monotechnics to implement the National Skills and Qualification Framework (NSQF) in their institutions, claiming that doing so would require students to graduate with a certificate in skills.
In order for polytechnic and monotechnic graduates to receive both the National Diploma (ND) and the NSQ, he continued, it was necessary to enter their information into the NSQF.
“This will allow them take up jobs which are today available in Nigeria. There are lots of skill gaps in many of the infrastructure projects, the railway programmes, the refineries in Lekki and several other projects across the country.
“We are importing labour from Asia because we don’t have certified and qualified skills from Nigeria to take up these jobs. We have degree holders, diploma holders without qualifications in requisite skills.
“So, I am appealing to you to create these innovative channels. Skills’ training is the panacea to Nigeria’s current unemployment rate, this is the only root we can use to export labour to the rest of the world,” he said.
