By Mercy Aikoye
The House of Representatives has pledged to examine the KPMG report on the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and recommend measures to address the agency’s funding challenges, following revelations that it has not received capital grants in two years.
The lawmakers also indicated plans to fast-track the amendment of the NBTE Act to strengthen the agency’s operations and improve its capacity to regulate technical and vocational education in the country.
Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Polytechnics and Higher Technical Education, Hon. Faud Kayode Laguda, gave the assurances during an oversight session with the NBTE management at its headquarters on Wednesday.
Laguda said the committee had yet to obtain the KPMG report and would not reach conclusions until it had examined the document and assessed its findings and recommendations.
“We have not seen the report; we just heard about it today. That is why we have requested the report to study it, look at the findings and recommendations before making our conclusions,” he said.
The Federal Government had engaged KPMG Advisory Services in August to assess and restructure the NBTE as part of efforts to strengthen the regulation of polytechnics and technical institutions and accelerate skills development.
Addressing concerns over inadequate funding, Laguda said the committee would explore ways to improve government allocations to the board and strengthen its internally generated revenue.
He said the committee had also requested documents on the agency’s capital budget from 2024 to date, details of contracts and other information necessary to assess its financial position. He added that the committee would make appropriate recommendations after reviewing the documents.
On the proposed amendment of the NBTE Act, Laguda said work was already ongoing on the bill, promising to ensure its expedited consideration. He also urged the board to present stronger justification for its request for additional personnel, noting that its workforce appeared inadequate for the responsibilities it was expected to discharge.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje, identified funding constraints as the board’s major challenge, lamenting that it had not received a single grant in the last two years.
According to him, the funding shortfall had forced the suspension of capital projects and left contractors struggling with unpaid obligations, with some reportedly vowing not to undertake further projects for the agency.
Bugaje said the board was also working to clamp down on illegal technical education centres and awaiting the amendment of its enabling law to transform it into a commission.
On the KPMG report, he disclosed that the review recommended an organisational restructuring, leading to the appointment of two coordinating directors and an expansion of the board’s structure to 22 departments.
He added that the report identified a significant funding disparity between the NBTE and the National Universities Commission, stating that the NUC received four times the funding allocated to the technical education regulator.
Despite the financial challenges, Bugaje said the board’s internally generated revenue had increased steadily since 2024 through service charges, NBTE Consult and NBTE Hotels. He said the agency intended to expand its revenue-generating activities to support its operations.
The executive secretary also disclosed that the NBTE was working to phase out non-technology and non-applied sciences programmes in polytechnics, insisting that the institutions must return to their core statutory mandate of providing technical and applied science education.
On the board’s disputed land in Abuja, Bugaje said the matter remained before the court, adding that the management was pursuing the case.
