The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has expressed serious dismay at the proliferation of private polytechnics, colleges/schools of health technology and technical vocational educational and training institutions across Nigeria.
NBTE said some of them had gone as far as awarding certificate, diploma and in some cases degree qualifications, without the federal government’s approval and operational licenses.
A statement signed by NBTE Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said the situation is not healthy for the development of education in Nigeria.
“This has become worrisome to the board, considering the poor quality of training offered by these unaccredited institutions which have not been evaluated against the national minimum standards or benchmarks and with spate of complaints from concerned members of the public.
“In most cases, these institutions do not have adequate physical facilities, staffing, teaching and instructional aids and conducive environment that befit the status of tertiary institutions.
“They usually claim to be affiliated to local or foreign tertiary institutions to offer wide range of programmes without commensurate resources on ground.
“They fraudulently charge tuition and examination fees from many innocent admission seekers and issue them worthless qualifications that are not useful for employment, professional registration or further studies.”
The executive secretary insisted that these institutions should not be allowed to continue to award fake qualifications in the country.
He therefore urged Nigerians to desist from seeking admissions into any of these unapproved polytechnics, colleges/schools of health technology and similar TVET institutions.
“They are kindly requested to verify from the NBTE website the list of accredited TVET institutions in Nigeria where they can legitimately enroll for the
programmes of their choice. The lists would be updated regularly to ensure that all Nigerians are adequately informed and have access to only approved and accredited TVET institutions.”
He further said that “all health professional regulatory/registration bodies under the Federal Ministries of Health and Environment should please note that only approved and licensed private institutions of higher education established pursuant of Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Amendment Act CAP E3 LFN 2004 are granted accreditation and permission to run their health professional training programmes,” he added.