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- Advocate establishment of polytechnics commission
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE) has advocated a total overhaul of academic curricula being used in technical colleges across Nigeria so that in the process, additions and subtractions can be made in the content in line with 21st-century developments.
NATE also suggested that Primary Schools’ curricula should also be reviewed to reflect more creative content so as to catch the younger ones in terms of skills and technology acquisition.
The Association said it has observed that the present curriculum of technical schools is obsolete because it’s theoretically based but practically weak, hence, it’s inadequate to address the current trends of technological development in Nigeria.
NATE President, Dominic Udoatan, told journalists at a press conference, in Abuja, that there was an urgent need for the government to encourage the technical schools by adequately equipping and funding the schools in all the states of the federation.
“This is because, for any meaningful development such as industrialization to take place, there should be a compelling motivation for direct enhancing development through the adoption and stimulation of appropriate technology.
“The capacity of Engineering Technologists as well as technical skills men and women should be strengthened, and this can be done by establishing and adequately equipping skills acquisition centres for training and retraining of youths, which is also a prerequisite for the development of local technology.”
He said that NATE is ready and willing to partner with the Federal Government to pilot the implementation of necessary programmes and policies designed to expand technological development and skills in Nigeria.
The NATE President, however, amplified the call for the establishment of the National Polytechnic Commission in order to properly monitor all technology-based programmes.
He said: “Regulation of polytechnics should be properly done and guided by a statutory body as it is in the case of Universities, Colleges of Education, and other sister advance educational bodies. The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) should supervise technical colleges, while the polytechnics Commission should be established to cater for the polytechnics.
“It is very imperative to establish the National Polytechnic Commission in order to monitor all technology-based programs. The polytechnic education curriculum is not a secondary education curriculum, hence the need for the commission for an excellent, competitive technological driven country.”
He, therefore, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to carefully look into their submissions with a view to consider and implement for the benefit of the country’s quest for meaningful technological development and industrialization.
