To address and close the gap in terms of access to higher education, the federal government has approved the establishment of private sector-led Vocational Enterprise Institutions (VEIs) and Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs) with the major aim of serving the needs of the industry and self-empowerment in the country.
The private institutions are expected to offer vocational, technical, technology or professional education and training at post-basic and tertiary levels to equip secondary school leavers and working adults with vocational skills and knowledge to meet the increasing demand for technical manpower by the various sectors of the nation’s economy.
This was announced by the minister of education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, at the presentation of operational licences to two private polytechnics and 15 IEIs and VEIs.
The minister said after satisfying the laid-down regulations and demands of the regulatory agency, the institutions “were approved by the federal government to provide alternate route to higher education. They are private institutions which provide competence-based technical and vocational training at post-secondary level to meet up with skilled manpower.”
In the same vein, proprietors of the VEIs and IEIs are calling for a review of the present status quo in the awards of certificates from National Innovative Diploma (NID) to National Diploma as practised in conventional polytechnics, a request the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) insists must remain as practised.
The executive secretary of the NBTE, Dr M.A Kazaure, who revealed that the request will not represent the motive for the establishment of the institutions, as “the institutions came on board to address major problems confronting TVET in Nigeria among which is the mismatch between the training provided and the needs of employers”.
”All technical institutions under the purview of NBTE have their set objectives on which basis the curricula were developed.
“The curricula developed for VEIs and IEIs were industry-aligned. This made them different from those developed for polytechnics and other similar tertiary technical institutions,” he added.
By Kuni Tyessi/LEADERSHIP/ — May 14, 2015 3:36 pm
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Nigerian Govt Licenses 4 New Private Polytechnics
The federal government on Thursday in Abuja presented operational licences to four new private polytechnics and 34 innovation enterprise institutions and vocational enterprise institutions.
The new polytechnics are Nacabs Polytechnic, Akwanga, Nasarawa State; Uyo City Polytechnic, Akwa Ibom State; the Polytechnic Igbo-Owu, Kwara State; and Balmor Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Speaking at the licence presentation in Abuja, the minister of education, Ibrahim Shekarau, said that the move was in tandem with the quest by the Federal Government to build skilled manpower for the country.
He said the polytechnics, IEIs and VEIs were expected to focus on applied learning that would be relevant to the development needs of the country.
“The Federal Government, in realisation of the need for appropriate manpower to the developmental needs of the country, opened the way for the private sector to participate in technological drive,” he said.
“The main problem confronting the sector is that of articulation, placement and progression of graduates from these institutions. I assure that stakeholders will work hard to solve these problems.
“The Federal Ministry of Education and the National Board for Technical Education had subjected the institutions to full scrutiny before granting them approval.”
Earlier, Masa’udu Kazaure, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, said VEIs and IEIs were institutions inaugurated by the Federal Government to provide alternative route to higher education.
He said IEIs and VEIs were private institutions that would offer vocational, technical, technology or professional education and training at post-basic and tertiary levels.
According to him, the enterprise institutions will equip secondary school leavers and working adults with vocational skills and knowledge to meet the increasing demand for the country’s technical manpower.
Mr. Kazaure said that the objectives of the VEIs and IEIs were to widen access to vocational education and offer credible alternative to higher education through the provision of relevant industry-specific employable skills and operational guidelines.
He added that the VEIs/IEIs initiative was conceived to address major problems confronting technical and vocational education in the country, among which was the mismatch between the training provided and the needs of employers and industries.
Responding on behalf of the proprietors of the new institutions, Olugbenga Jegede, president, St. Winifred Innovative Institute, Ibadan, thanked the Federal Government for giving them the opportunity to participate in the education sector.
He said the newly licensed institutions would not betray the confidence reposed in them.
(NAN)
