FG Targets 93% Informal Workforce With New NBTE Structure

…Releases 31 National Occupational Standards

The Federal Government has commenced a major restructuring of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) aimed at repositioning the agency to reach Nigeria’s 93 per cent informal workforce and align technical education with industry and job opportunities.

The minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said the reform will be driven through a KPMG-led assessment and the rollout of 31 National Occupational Standards designed to make training more practical and employment-focused.

Alausa said the repositioning of NBTE is central to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and to ensuring that polytechnics, monotechnics and other technical institutions produce graduates with skills that translate directly into jobs, entrepreneurship and productivity.

He disclosed that the ministry has engaged KPMG to undertake a comprehensive review of NBTE and develop a functional organisational structure and operational framework that will strengthen the agency’s capacity to supervise and coordinate institutions under its mandate.

According to the minister, the engagement with KPMG was informed by the need to ensure NBTE is properly structured both internally and operationally to provide the leadership required to drive technical and vocational education and training across the country.

He said the success of the President’s vision for TVET depends significantly on the effectiveness of the institutions responsible for implementing and supervising the system, and NBTE must therefore be repositioned as a strong and fit-for-purpose agency.

Alausa explained that KPMG’s assignment is to identify institutional gaps and recommend changes to NBTE’s internal mechanisms, structure and processes.

The findings, he said, will provide a clearer framework that aligns the agency’s operations with its statutory responsibilities and with the Federal Government’s broader reforms in technical and vocational education.
He stressed that the exercise is not merely an administrative restructuring but a fundamental step toward making NBTE the driver of skills development in Nigeria.

The minister noted that the ministry’s approach recognises polytechnic education as part of the broader TVET ecosystem and it must therefore be managed within a skills-focused framework.

“Everything about the polytechnic is technical and vocational education and training. It is all about skills. We are simply discussing skills,” Alausa said.

He said this understanding informed the ongoing review of polytechnic curricula and the development of National Occupational Standards to ensure that training is more closely aligned with practical skills, industry requirements and opportunities for employment and enterprise.

The minister’s Special Adviser, Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah in a statement on Wednesday, explain that the a curriculum review exercise was supported with N1bn from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund)and it produced 27 new National Occupational Standards and reviewed four existing standards, bringing the total to 31.

Alausa said the standards extend beyond tertiary-level training to establish a clearer skills pathway from artisan-level training through the National Certificate, Ordinary National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes.

He stressed that the ultimate purpose of the reform is to ensure that Nigerians undergoing technical education acquire practical competencies that can translate into employment, entrepreneurship and increased productivity.

Providing an industry perspective, Adewale Ajayi, Partner and Head of Tax, Regulatory and People Services at KPMG Africa and KPMG in Nigeria, said the firm’s assessment highlighted both the challenges confronting Nigeria’s technical and vocational education system and the opportunities available if the system is properly structured and strengthened.

Ajayi said about 93 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce is engaged in informal employment, while approximately 12 per cent of young people are not in education, employment or technical training.

He, however, noted that Nigeria performs strongly in the employability of TVET graduates, with only Singapore ranking ahead of the country among the markets assessed, an indication of the potential of TVET to produce graduates with skills relevant to labour-market demands.

Ajayi also called for greater attention to curriculum development, noting that more than 55 per cent of existing curricula assessed were outdated, including programmes in engineering, science, arts and design.

He identified funding constraints and the five-year curriculum review cycle as factors contributing to the challenge, while highlighting the recent update of the agriculture curriculum as a positive development.

The minister said the findings from the KPMG engagement, together with the ongoing curriculum and skills reforms, will provide a stronger foundation for repositioning NBTE as an institution capable of effectively driving technical and vocational education in Nigeria.

He said a properly structured NBTE will be better positioned to supervise polytechnics, monotechnics and other institutions under its mandate, strengthen institutional accountability and ensure that technical education remains responsive to the changing needs of industry and the economy.