NBTE Enforces Mandatory Skills Qualification For Polytechnic Graduates

National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has said all polytechnic students will undergo mandatory skills qualifications (MSQ) before graduation.

Its executive secretary, Professor Idris Bugaje, disclosed this when he clarified the 2024 scheme of service draft at a press conference.

He said, “Every polytechnic student from this year has to do a Mandatory Skills Qualification (MSQ) before graduation. This is a major paradigm shift in polytechnic education in Nigeria, so we produce diploma holders with skills. ‘You cannot give what you don’t have’, and that’s why the National Skills Qualifications (NSQ) was introduced to promote lecturers who should drive the MSQ. This requirement will additionally make polytechnic lecturers unique, having both academics and hands-on skills,” he stressed.

He said the recently approved scheme of service for the polytechnic sector had been circulated, and proposals for amending grey areas have been passed to the “Mother of Skills” in Nigeria, the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan.

Bugaje said the 2024 scheme is a revolutionary document, as it recognises HND holders for the first time as graduate assistants like their university counterparts in our polytechnics.

“It also requires principal/chief lecturers to have doctorate degrees. This requirement cannot be negotiated. This is because while we ask for parity between universities and polytechnics, we can’t allow the highest academics in polytechnics to have a master’s degree only. The indolent academics who, in the past, run and hid in polytechnics to avoid doctorate degrees shall hereafter have no hiding place anymore,” he said.

The NBTE boss, however, emphasised that many areas require amendment, including dichotomy against HND holders in other cadres, omission of some cadres, allowing at least one skipping for all cadres like it is in other tertiary institutions in Nigeria, and not elongating the waiting period for all promotions beyond three years.

“These observations from the Committee of Rectors of Federal Polytechnics, polytechnic staff unions, and the National Association of Polytechnic Students have been forwarded to the Head of Service, ” he said.

He also clarified a clause that the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP, a union he said is dominated by state polytechnics because of their more significant numbers) raised was the introduction of the Nigerian Skills Qualification (NSQ) certificate for the promotion of lecturers, stressing that “NSQ is not an informal qualification as misjudged by ASUP. It is already approved and recognised in the National Scheme of Service.”

The NBTE boss also disclosed that the board has noted the Federal Polytechnics Academic Staff Union (FEPASU) appeal and said that the Schemes of Service are strictly for the federal polytechnics they represent. Federal polytechnics have ownership and governance peculiarities, making them different from the state polytechnics, adding that, more importantly, education is on the concurrent list in our Constitution, and NBTE cannot, therefore, impose the new Scheme of Service (after its final validation) on any state polytechnic.