Tunji Alausa

File: Education minister, Tunji Alausa

The Federal Government has committed N1bn through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to modernise technical and vocational education and training curricula, producing 27 new National Occupational Standards and updating four existing ones, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has said.

Alausa disclosed this in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah, as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to reposition Technical and Vocational Education and Training as a major pathway to employment, entrepreneurship and economic productivity.

The minister said the curriculum modernisation programme, “supported by a ₦1 billion intervention from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund,” had produced 27 new National Occupational Standards and updated four existing standards, bringing the total number of reviewed standards to 31.

Explaining the rationale for the investment, Alausa said, “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 the standards were designed to ensure that technical education programmes remained relevant to industry requirements, technological developments and emerging economic opportunities.

According to him, the reviewed standards would establish a more coherent and integrated skills-development pathway spanning artisan-level training, National Certificates, Ordinary National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes.

Alausa said the reforms were intended to ensure that graduates of technical institutions acquired practical and market-relevant competencies that would improve their employability, encourage entrepreneurship and contribute to national productivity.

The curriculum intervention is coming alongside a broader Federal Government effort to restructure the National Board for Technical Education and strengthen its capacity to regulate and support polytechnics, monotechnics and other technical institutions.

Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education had engaged KPMG Advisory Services to conduct a comprehensive institutional assessment of NBTE and develop a future-fit organisational structure, governance model and operating framework for the agency.

He said the move was aimed at transforming NBTE into a high-performing regulator and strategic enabler of Nigeria’s TVET ecosystem.

According to him, the assessment would identify gaps and opportunities in governance, organisational design, operating processes, workforce capability and service delivery, with the findings expected to form the basis of a transformation roadmap for the board.

Alausa said, “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.”

He added that a strengthened NBTE was critical to the realisation of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the broader objective of producing a skilled, productive and globally competitive workforce.

The N1bn curriculum intervention comes against the backdrop of concerns over the relevance of existing TVET programmes.

Providing an industry perspective, Oluwole Adelokun, Partner, Strategy and Customer Solutions at KPMG Africa and KPMG Nigeria, said the firm’s assessment had identified both structural challenges and significant opportunities within Nigeria’s TVET landscape.

Adelokun said more than 55 per cent of assessed curricula across disciplines including engineering, science, arts and design were outdated.