Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has unveiled a major initiative to reposition the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) as a more efficient regulator and key driver of Nigeria’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector.

Alausa said the reform was aimed at improving the Board’s institutional capacity, governance structure and operational effectiveness to enable it to better regulate and coordinate polytechnics, monotechnics and other technical institutions.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah, the minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education had engaged KPMG Advisory Services to conduct a comprehensive assessment of NBTE and develop a new organisational structure, governance model and operating framework for the agency.

Alausa said the initiative was part of efforts to ensure that institutions responsible for technical education were adequately equipped and structured to provide effective leadership for the nation’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 said a stronger NBTE would be instrumental to the implementation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its objective of producing a skilled and productive workforce capable of supporting industrial development, innovation and sustainable economic growth.

According to him, the exercise goes beyond an administrative restructuring, as it is intended to create a modern and responsive NBTE capable of spearheading changes across Nigeria’s technical and vocational education sector.

He added that the assessment would examine areas including governance, organisational structure, operational procedures, staff capacity and service delivery, with the aim of identifying weaknesses and opportunities for improvement.

The outcome, he said, would form the basis of a transformation roadmap for aligning NBTE’s operations with its statutory mandate and the Federal Government’s wider TVET reform programme.

Alausa also stressed the importance of polytechnic education within the country’s TVET framework, saying greater emphasis must be placed on practical skills, employability, innovation and entrepreneurship.

“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.

He said the principle was also informing the ongoing review of polytechnic curricula and the development of National Occupational Standards (NOS), which are expected to make training programmes more responsive to industry requirements, technological developments and emerging economic opportunities.

The curriculum modernisation initiative, supported by a ₦1 billion intervention from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has so far produced 27 new National Occupational Standards and revised four existing ones, bringing the number of reviewed standards to 31.

The standards are expected to create a more integrated skills-development pathway covering artisan training, National Certificates, Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes.

The minister said the reforms were designed to ensure that graduates of technical institutions acquire practical and relevant skills that would improve their employment prospects, encourage enterprise creation and contribute to national productivity.

Giving an industry perspective on the reform, Oluwole Adelokun, Partner, Strategy and Customer Solutions at KPMG Africa and KPMG in Nigeria, said the firm’s assessment revealed both major challenges and considerable opportunities within Nigeria’s TVET system.

Adelokun said about 93 per cent of the country’s workforce operates in the informal sector, while almost 12 per cent of young people are neither in education, employment nor skills training.

He said the figures highlighted the need for a TVET system that was more inclusive, flexible and responsive to labour-market demands.

Despite the challenges, Adelokun said Nigeria ranked second only to Singapore among countries assessed for the employability of TVET graduates, describing the result as an indication of the sector’s capacity to produce workers with skills relevant to industry.

He, however, identified curriculum renewal as one of the areas requiring urgent attention, noting that over 55 per cent of curricula assessed across fields such as engineering, science, arts and design were outdated.

Adelokun also pointed to inadequate funding and the existing five-year curriculum review cycle as factors limiting the ability of the system to respond quickly to changing industry needs. He cited the recent review of the agriculture curriculum as an encouraging development.

Reacting to the findings, Alausa said the KPMG assessment, combined with the government’s ongoing curriculum and skills-development initiatives, would help lay the foundation for transforming NBTE into a stronger institution capable of advancing technical and vocational education nationwide.

He said the proposed restructuring would enhance NBTE’s ability to monitor institutions under its jurisdiction, strengthen quality assurance and accountability, expand collaboration with industry and ensure that technical education keeps pace with changing economic and workforce requirements.

The minister reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to building a TVET system centered on practical competence, industry relevance, innovation, employability and productivity.

He described the transformation of NBTE as a major component of the Federal Government’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.