The Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has initiated a far-reaching transformation of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) aimed at repositioning the institution as a high-performing regulator and strategic enabler of Nigeria’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) ecosystem.
In a statement signed by Special Adviser ( Media and Communications), to the Minister, Ikharo Attah, The reform initiative is designed to strengthen NBTE’s institutional effectiveness, governance architecture, and operational capacity, enabling the Board to more effectively regulate, coordinate, and support polytechnics, monotechnics, and other technical institutions while aligning skills development outcomes with Nigeria’s economic and workforce priorities.
As part of this effort, the Minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education has engaged KPMG Advisory Services to undertake a comprehensive institutional assessment and develop a future-fit organisational structure, governance model, and operating framework that will enhance the Board’s ability to deliver on its mandate.
According to Alausa, the engagement reflects the Ministry’s commitment to ensuring that the institutions responsible for driving technical education are appropriately structured, adequately resourced, and positioned to provide effective leadership for the country’s skills development agenda.
“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.
He emphasized that a strengthened NBTE is critical to the realization of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the broader objective of developing a skilled, productive, and globally competitive workforce capable of supporting industrialization, innovation, and sustainable economic growth.
The Minister further noted that the restructuring exercise extends beyond administrative reform and represents a strategic intervention to reposition NBTE as a modern, agile, and fit-for-purpose institution capable of driving nationwide transformation in technical and vocational education.
He explained that the assessment will identify institutional gaps and opportunities for improvement across governance, organisational design, operating processes, workforce capability, and service delivery, with recommendations aimed at enhancing effectiveness, accountability, and impact.
The resulting transformation roadmap will provide a clear framework for aligning NBTE’s structure and operations with its statutory responsibilities and the Federal Government’s broader TVET reform agenda.
Alausa reiterated that polytechnic education forms an integral component of Nigeria’s wider TVET ecosystem and must therefore be managed within a framework that prioritises 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 stated.
This philosophy, he explained, is guiding the ongoing review of polytechnic curricula and the development of National Occupational Standards (NOS) to ensure that training programmes remain relevant to industry needs, technological advancements, and emerging economic opportunities.
Supported by a ₦1 billion intervention from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the curriculum modernization programme has produced 27 new National Occupational Standards and updated four existing standards, bringing the total number of reviewed standards to 31.
The standards establish a more coherent and integrated skills development pathway across the education system, spanning artisan-level training, National Certificates, Ordinary National Diploma (OND), and Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes.
The Minister stressed that the reforms are intended to ensure that technical education graduates emerge with practical, market-relevant competencies that enhance employability, foster entrepreneurship, and improve national productivity.
Providing an industry perspective, Oluwole Adelokun, Partner, Strategy and Customer Solutions at KPMG Africa and KPMG in Nigeria, noted that the firm’s assessment highlighted both the structural challenges confronting Nigeria’s TVET landscape and the significant opportunities that exist to unlock its potential through targeted reforms and institutional strengthening.
Oluwole observed that approximately 93 percent of Nigeria’s workforce operates within the informal economy, while nearly 12 percent of young people are not engaged in education, employment, or skills training, reinforcing the need for a more inclusive and responsive skills development system.
Despite these challenges, he noted that Nigeria performs exceptionally strongly in the employability of TVET graduates, ranking second only to Singapore among the countries assessed. According to him, the finding underscores the significant potential of the TVET system to produce industry-ready talent capable of addressing labour market demands.
He further highlighted curriculum modernization as a critical priority, noting that more than 55 percent of assessed curricula across disciplines, including engineering, science, arts, and design, are outdated.
Oluwole identified funding limitations and the current five-year curriculum review cycle as key constraints affecting curriculum responsiveness, while commending the recent revision of the agriculture curriculum as a positive example of progress.
Responding to the findings, the Minister stated that insights from the KPMG engagement, alongside ongoing curriculum and skills development reforms, would provide a robust foundation for repositioning the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) as a more effective catalyst for technical and vocational education in Nigeria.
He noted that a restructured NBTE would be better positioned to strengthen oversight of institutions under its mandate, improve quality assurance and accountability, deepen industry collaboration, and ensure that technical education remains responsive to evolving workforce and economic needs.
Alausa reaffirmed the Federal Ministry of Education’s commitment to developing a TVET system anchored on industry relevance, practical competence, innovation, employability, and productivity, describing the transformation of NBTE as a critical pillar of Nigeria’s human capital development strategy.
“The ultimate objective is to build a more agile, effective, and future-ready institution capable of delivering on its mandate and supporting the realization of President Tinubu’s vision of a highly skilled, productive, and globally competitive Nigerian workforce,” he said.
