Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule has averred that vocational and technical education is very important. Therefore, the 31 programmes that you are going to resource verify, in addition to the 18 that you are going for re accreditation, won’t be too much for us.
Stating that his concerns stemmed from his experience from the organized private sector where he discovered that citizens of Nasarawa State are not that visible when it comes to technical and vocational education, especially in companies where he worked.
Governor Sule made this known when he hosted at the Government House an accreditation and visitation team from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) on resource verification at the Isa Mustapha Agwai I Polytechnic Lafia, on Thursday.
The NBTE team is in Lafia to undertake resource verification for 21 new courses, including 16 engineering related courses at IMAP, as well as accreditation for 12 other courses already being run by the institution.
Governor Sule made this known when he hosted at the Government House an accreditation and visitation team from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) on resource verification at the Isa Mustapha Agwai I Polytechnic Lafia, on Thursday.
Worried by the dearth of trained technicians in Nasarawa State, Governor Abdullahi Sule has said that his administration is in a rush to fill the void through an aggressive pursuit of technical and vocational education.
“The reason being we were left behind for too long in Nasarawa State. It is better for us to take advantage of the situation that we have now and do as quickly as possible, as many programmes as possible, so that it would just be re accreditation rather than an entirely fresh accreditation process.
“That is the reason why we are doing what we are doing. We are getting more industries in the state, more and more factories in the state. It is very difficult when you go to industries, even in Nasarawa State, when you look at the technical people you hardly see people from Nasarawa State. It is killing me. That is the reason why I am doing everything possible to see what we can meet up. I worked for two major companies that have so much to do with technical activities, the refinery in Lagos and African Petroleum and the rest of that. If you look at it, no people from Nasarawa State in those companies,” he stated.
Harping on the significance of vocational and technical education, the Governor said Nigeria is blessed with intelligent, smart and result-driving people such that with commitment and determination, Nigeria can compete favorably in the area of technical and vocational skills with developed countries such as China.
He said a core policy drive of his administration is to ensure that Nasarawa State catches up with other states like Kano in the area of technical and vocational skills.
Governor Sule was particularly excited that a female from the NBTE is the leader of the team, signifying that Nigeria has made tremendous progress in the area of technical and vocational education, a field previously considered the preserve of men.
While accepting to give the NBTE team a free hand to carry out their exercise, with a view to assessing the readiness of IMAP to run the specified programmes, he appreciated the Acting Rector of the institution, Nurudeen Maifata, for the successes being recorded so far.
“I will allow you to find out on our state of readiness. But one thing is certain, I must commend the Acting Rector and his team for the wonderful job they have continued to do in that institution. Every opportunity that they have to bring about improvement and to get us to a day like this. I really want to commend him personally for taking the time as well as all members of his team,” he said.
In her speech, leader of the NBTE team, Fatima Kabir Umar, Director of Polytechnic Programmes, who stood in for NBTE’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said they were in the state to car
