Measures to Develop Engineering, Technology Education

Both the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and the National Board for Technical Education (NABTE) have devised measures to re-invigorate Engineering and technology education in Nigeria.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the move was conceived at a technical meeting at the NBTE headquarters where the two regulatory bodies met in Kaduna on Thursday.

During the meeting, the President of COREN, Abubakar Zubair, thought that the revamping of Engineering and technology education should be taken up from polytechnics, mono-technics, technical colleges, and informal sector stages.

Zubair expressed that there had been some gaps which he blamed on the non-existent collaboration between COREN and NBTE.

He, however, advocated the rekindling of cohesion between the two bodies to facilitate great development and achievement in the engineering sector.

Speaking further, he regretted that about 126 technical colleges in the country were not regulated, resulting in losing their quality and standards.

He bemoaned, “Technical colleges feed into the mono-technics and polytechnics where the end is almost dead in the colleges. The future of this country in the area of Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) is in jeopardy if we don’t sit down to address the gap.”

Zubair stated that those who operate in the informal sector are uncertified youths who have the required competencies, skills, and proficiencies.

He mentioned further that “COREN will eventually have to accept to register the trainees when they are certified.”

Zubair pointed out that the gathering was important to identify the area where COREN and NBTE must work together, including other relevant key partners like the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), National University Commission (NUC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and other agencies and sectoral regulators in areas of engineering and technology.

COREN President added that the body would revive residency practice for engineering, which was packaged years ago, but where the paucity of funds had been stumbling in a bid to bring it to fruition.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Idris Bugaje, berated the poor state of engineering, regarding productivity and industrialization in the country, blaming Nigeria for allowing basic infrastructure for industrialization to collapse.

What’s your thought about this?

Kindly like, comment, follow, and share.