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The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has warned against degrading of the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB).
Adamu, represented by Director of Human Resources in the ministry, Mr David Gende, said this at the 2022 monitoring of NABTEB examinations at the Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Orozo on Thursday in Abuja.
The minister said that the essence of the examination was to promote skills among the teeming youths in the country, noting that everybody might not have the privilege of attending a university.
He said that such persons could do better in the various skill acquisitions they must have acquired.
Adamu said that those who could not fit into the country’s formal sector would have the opportunity to get involved in the informal sector, which underscored the reason for setting up the board.
According to him, those who cannot go to the university will have a skill to carry them along.
“I think we need to correct this impression, skills acquisition is what we are promoting in this regards and there is no rule that says everyone must go to the university.
“You know, if we look across the globe, there are people who have achieved greatly without seeing a university.
“So, we should stop demeaning this very certificate so that people can pick up the skills that are required,” he said.
On his observation during the monitoring, the minister expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the students, saying that there was no record of any students involved in malpractices.
Adamu, therefore, said that the ministry would continue to promote the culture of excellence to have great leaders that would sail the country in the near future.
He advised the candidates to prepare excellently to face their counterparts in the other climes by contributing greater to the development of the country.
“We want our students to imbibe the culture of excellence because the future is going to be tougher than what we are witnessing today as the stage is bigger.
“They are competing against others in other spheres of the world, so they should be able to start preparing themselves from now on.
“And preparing yourself simply means pushing yourself very hard so that you do your best and whatever comes out, you should be able to defend,” he said.
On her part, the Chief Executive of NABTEB, Mrs Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, said the board had experienced an increase in enrolment of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) candidates since 2018.
Isiugo-Abanihe said that the increase was as a result of interest in technical education among the youths, adding that the board received 83,000 candidates in 2021 and 88,000 in 2022.
“We have almost 88,000 candidates in the past five years. It’s been increasing every year. If you check from 2018, it was about 55,000 candidates.
“There has been steady increase in enrolment and I think it is because of the realisation that TVET is the way to go.
“This is because in the world today, there is need for skills as well as empowerment in skills and self-reliance and it is at the bottom of development.
“And that is why there is more realisation which is a very crucial aspect of education and that is what you have witnessed today,” she said.
She said that after the certificate, the students could choose to set up a business and be an entrepreneur or could further his/her education by going to the tertiary institution.
The examination is a yearly one usually conducted by the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) for technical and business innovation colleges in the country.(NAN)