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The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) have strengthened collaboration to promote skills development and support industrial growth through a clearer division of responsibilities.<\/p>\n
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The ITF Director-General, Dr Afiz Ogun, said this at a joint news conference organised by the ITF and NBTE on Thursday in Abuja.<\/p>\n
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Ogun said the conference was convened to explain the Federal Government\u2019s resolution of the long-standing overlap in the mandates of both agencies and present a coordinated framework.<\/p>\n
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He said the government resolved years of overlapping responsibilities among agencies involved in skills development through a clear division of mandates to strengthen industrial training and workforce development.<\/p>\n
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\u201cPrevious ambiguities in agency mandates weakened skills development in spite of rising unemployment and increasing dependence on foreign skilled workers.<\/p>\n
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\u201cNigeria still imports artisans, technicians and skilled workers even with the abundant human resources and educational institutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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According to him, President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration has prioritised skills development as a strategy for tackling unemployment, promoting practical knowledge and driving economic growth across sectors.<\/p>\n
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He added that only about seven per cent of Nigeria\u2019s workforce was engaged in white-collar employment, while approximately 93 per cent operated within the informal sector.<\/p>\n
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Ogun said the National Council on Skills, chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, ended decades of uncertainty by clearly defining responsibilities for formal and informal skills development.<\/p>\n
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He explained that the agreement assigned formal skills training to the NBTE, while the ITF would oversee informal skills development, apprenticeships and industry-based training programmes nationwide.<\/p>\n
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According to him, the NBTE will regulate polytechnics, technical colleges and other formal institutions, while the ITF will connect graduates with employers and strengthen workforce readiness.<\/p>\n
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He added that the ITF would develop a national database for artisans and technicians to improve certification, regulation and access to modern technologies and industry opportunities.<\/p>\n
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Ogun said the arrangement would align informal sector skills with the Nigerian Skills Qualification Framework and international standards, enhancing competitiveness and workforce mobility.<\/p>\n
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He described the agreement as a major achievement under the Renewed Hope Agenda, saying it provided clarity for stakeholders and strengthened Nigeria\u2019s skills development architecture.<\/p>\n
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Speaking earlier, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, described the conference as an opportunity to explain recent developments in the nation\u2019s skills development sector.<\/p>\n
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Bugaje said the NBTE was established to regulate technical education outside the university system and oversee implementation of the Nigerian Skills Qualification Framework nationwide.<\/p>\n
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He said the board had carried out its statutory responsibilities for 49 years in spite of challenges arising from overlapping mandates and responsibilities shared with other government agencies.<\/p>\n
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According to him, the National Council on Skills recently reviewed and ratified the harmonisation of the mandates of the NBTE and ITF.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe agreement established a clear roadmap for both agencies to work together in achieving national skills development goals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Bugaje said the NBTE would focus on regulating technical and vocational education to ensure graduates possessed competencies that met industry requirements and labour market demands.<\/p>\n
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He added that the board was collaborating with the ITF to expand industry-based practical training opportunities for students across technical and vocational institutions nationwide.<\/p>\n
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According to him, Nigeria\u2019s reliance on foreign artisans for major construction projects highlights weaknesses in the country\u2019s technical and vocational education system.<\/p>\n
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Bugaje expressed confidence that the partnership would reposition technical education, improve skilled manpower development and support Nigeria\u2019s industrialisation and economic transformation agenda.(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ITF, NBTE harmonise mandates to boost skills devt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[59],"tags":[94,244,245],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-itf","tag-nbtemandates","tag-skillsdevt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260716-WA00961.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}