The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has called on privately owned vocational enterprise institutes (VEIs) to secure accreditation to benefit from the federal government’s upcoming enrollment initiative.
Idris Bugaje, NBTE’s executive secretary, spoke to TheCable about Nigeria’s planned reforms for technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
The federal ministry of education recently announced plans to financially support citizens enrolling in vocational schools. Training will cover areas such as carpentry, welding, electrical installation, plumbing, ICT, fashion design, and CNG conversion, among others.
Education minister Tunji Alausa detailed a structured approach aimed at addressing skill gaps, reducing youth unemployment, and boosting economic growth. According to him, the government will pay students to attend these programs, provide funding to schools through dissertation fees, and introduce mentorship programs where industry professionals will train students while receiving monthly stipends.
To ensure quality, a monitoring system will be set up with 774 assessors—one for each local government—while the ministry will offer entrepreneurship grants to trainees upon completion.
Under NBTE’s framework, structured vocational education in Nigeria is provided at different levels: technical colleges at the secondary level, VEIs and skill training centres (STCs) at the sub-tertiary level, and polytechnics at the tertiary level.
Bugaje emphasized that NBTE is currently collecting data on VEIs across the country and that accreditation is mandatory for those seeking inclusion in the government’s intervention plans.
To qualify for accreditation, institutions must meet specific facility, equipment, and personnel standards outlined on the NBTE website. The accreditation process can be completed online, eliminating the need for physical visits to NBTE’s headquarters in Kaduna.
Once accredited, VEIs will be integrated into relevant industry sectors and assigned recognized certificate-awarding bodies. For example, VEIs specializing in software development and ICT will align with the Computer Professionals of Nigeria (CPN).
Bugaje also highlighted NBTE’s push toward digitizing quality assurance processes, with private consultants set to assist in monitoring compliance.
He encouraged skill training centres operating informally to formalize their status by applying for NBTE accreditation.
“Let them write to the NBTE or visit our website and apply to get accredited. That way, they can buy into this federal intervention. Only institutions accredited by the NBTE are going to be beneficiaries,” he said.
“We shall assign them an awarding body so that the certification system is the same across the country.
“Instead of allowing every vocational school to be awarding their own certificate, we have the National Skills Qualification of level one to nine. This will improve VEI performance in standard and quality.”
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