NIGERIA- Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, Monday gave 56 newly approved private institutions licences to operate.
The institutions consist of 20 private polytechnics, four Colleges of Health Sciences and Technology and 32 Innovation Enterprise Institutions.
Adamu, who
was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Sonny Echono, gave the licences to the proprietors in Abuja.
He said the approval was based on government’s determination to produce the critical mass of skilled manpower that would engender sustainable national development.
He added that Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institution is one of the 10 pillars in the Ministerial Strategic Plan tagged Education for Change.
“The government is working hard to re-position the economy to a knowledge-based economy, which to a large extent is dependent on the skills of the workforce.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that the state of technical and vocational education in Nigeria requires very urgent and decisive action to re-position it for Nigeria’s technological take off.
“The shortage of skilled manpower across all sectors of the Nigerian economy coupled with the challenge of expanding access to accommodate the teeming Nigerian youths cannot be over-emphasised.
“This makes it imperative for the private sector participation in tertiary education management and administration.
“To date, government has approved 56 private polytechnics, 152 Innovation Enterprise Institutions and 84 Vocational Enterprise Institutions spread across the nooks and corners of Nigeria,” he said.
The minister noted that the challenge of skills gap prompted the government to establish VEIs and IEIs in 2007 in a bid to impart the necessary skills to drive the wheel of progress and development.
He pointed out that the private sector driven institutions had contributed in no small measure to bridging the gaps and open access to education.
“These are institutions that provide skills that translate into inventions, services, products, innovations and best practices that make significant contributions to the Gross Domestic Product,” Adamu said.
The minister, therefore, urged proprietors of the institutions to strive towards establishing a progress oriented and globally competitive institutions to actualise the envisioned change agenda.
Also, the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education, Masa’udu Kazaure, said the Board was working to eradicate the proliferation of illegal institutions in the country.
Kazaure called on the proprietors of the institutions to abide by the mandate of the institutions, saying it is illegal for any approved institutions to operate satellite campuses and study centres.
● NAN
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