The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, has initiated a far-reaching transformation of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to strengthen its capacity to regulate and drive Nigeria’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector….
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, has initiated a far-reaching transformation of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to strengthen its capacity to regulate and drive Nigeria’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector.
The reform, supported by a comprehensive institutional assessment by KPMG Advisory Services, is aimed at repositioning the NBTE as a high-performing regulator and strategic enabler of technical education.
Alausa said the restructuring would strengthen the Board’s oversight of polytechnics, monotechnics and other technical institutions while aligning skills development with Nigeria’s economic and workforce priorities.
He said the Federal Ministry of Education engaged KPMG to assess the NBTE’s institutional structure and develop a future-fit organisational structure, governance model and operating framework.
“The success of Nigeria’s TVET reforms depends not only on curriculum and infrastructure, but also on the strength and effectiveness of the institutions responsible for implementation and oversight,” the minister said.
According to him, a stronger NBTE is critical to achieving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and developing a skilled, productive and globally competitive workforce.
Alausa said the exercise would identify gaps and opportunities across governance, organisational design, operational processes, workforce capability and service delivery.
He added that the resulting transformation roadmap would align the NBTE’s operations with its statutory responsibilities and the Federal Government’s broader TVET reform agenda.
The minister stressed that polytechnic education remained an important component of Nigeria’s TVET ecosystem, with greater emphasis required on skills acquisition, employability, innovation and enterprise development.
“Technical and vocational education is fundamentally about skills.
Everything within the polytechnic system is ultimately geared towards developing competencies that create pathways to employment, entrepreneurship, and productivity,” he said.
Alausa said the philosophy was also guiding the ongoing review of polytechnic curricula and the development of National Occupational Standards (NOS) to ensure training remained relevant to industry needs and emerging economic opportunities.
The curriculum modernisation programme, supported by a ₦1 billion intervention from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has produced 27 new National Occupational Standards and updated four existing standards, bringing the total number reviewed to 31.
The standards are designed to create an integrated skills development pathway covering artisan-level training, National Certificates, Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes.
Speaking from an industry perspective, Oluwole Adelokun, Partner, Strategy and Customer Solutions at KPMG Africa and KPMG in Nigeria, said the assessment identified significant structural challenges as well as opportunities for targeted reforms.
Adelokun said about 93 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce operates in the informal economy, while nearly 12 per cent of young people are not engaged in education, employment or skills training.
He, however, noted that Nigeria ranked second only to Singapore among countries assessed for the employability of TVET graduates.
He said the finding demonstrated the potential of the sector to produce industry-ready workers capable of meeting labour market demands.
Adelokun identified curriculum modernisation as a major priority, noting that more than 55 per cent of assessed curricula across engineering, science, arts and design were outdated.
He also cited funding constraints and the existing five-year curriculum review cycle as challenges affecting the responsiveness of technical education.
Responding to the findings, Alausa said the KPMG assessment, alongside ongoing curriculum and skills development reforms, would provide a strong foundation for repositioning the NBTE.
He said a restructured NBTE would be better equipped to improve quality assurance and accountability, strengthen institutional oversight, deepen industry collaboration and ensure technical education remained responsive to changing economic and workforce needs.
“The ultimate objective is to build a more agile, effective, and future-ready institution capable of delivering on its mandate and supporting the realisation of President Tinubu’s vision of a highly skilled, productive, and globally competitive Nigerian workforce,” the minister said.
The Federal Ministry of Education described the transformation of the NBTE as a key pillar of its broader human capital development strategy and efforts to build a TVET system centred on practical competence, industry relevance, innovation, employability and productivity.
