The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has prohibited all Programmes other than the National Diploma from being offered by several polytechnics and other Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions throughout the country.
This was stated by the Board’s Head of Media Unit, Hajiya Fatima Abubakar, who cited the NBTE’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Bugaje, in a statement.
Bugaje stated that the prohibition was required due to the growth of ‘unaccredited’ diplomas that are not suitable for career advancement or academic advancement.
In the statement titled, ‘NBTE bans uncredited programmes,’ and released to newsmen in Kaduna, Bugaje called on affected institutions to seek the board’s approval to formalise such Diplomas by subjecting them to the Quality assurance mechanism of the NBTE.
He added that such Diplomas had since been banned, adding, however, that some institutions still offer the programmes “sometimes with affiliation with other institutions.”
According to him, findings indicate that the polytechnic Diploma run by approved institutions are not accredited by NBTE, and are mostly for Internally Generated Revenue purposes.
Bugaje lamented that holders of non-accredited Diplomas are often left in a dilemma as they neither secure employment nor progress academically with such qualification, adding that the board was always inundated with requests for clarification and evaluation of the certificates by Nigeria and International Organisations as well as foreign missions.