The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has said that the board will not visit any polytechnic or other related institutions for accreditation, without skill acquisition programmes henceforth.
The board added that any institution without skill acquisition programmes will not be visited by the board for accreditation.
The Director of Polytechnic Programmes of NBTE, Architect Ngbede Ogoh made this disclosure during the opening ceremony of the visit of NBTE for the resource accreditation of 12 programmes being mounted by The Polytechnic, Ibadan.
The event had in attendance, the Rector of the institution, Professor Kazeem Adebiyi and other principal officers of the institution.
Ogoh who led the NBTE team to the institution on Wednesday, explained that graduates without skills will come out to be job seekers and not job providers.
He added that the board has taken a decision to steer clear of institutions that does not have skill acquisition programmes.
He added that the board will not visit any institution that does not have skill acquisition programmes for accreditation of its courses.
He insisted that the decision was taken due to the necessity of skill acquisition in order to tackle the present challenges across the world.
“Skill acquisition is the key for development of the country. Without skill acquisition, you cannot cope with the present realities. That is why the focus of NBTE is on skill acquisition.
“I mentioned that NBTE will not taking or be visiting any institution without skill acquisition programmes. Without skill acquisition as I said earlier, our youths upon graduation will come out to be job seekers. We want youths that will come out to be job providers.
“The board has taken the decision that we will not visit any institution that does not have skill acquisition programmes for accreditation, because skill acquisition is very important in our national development.
“We are here for resource accreditation of 12 new programmes being mounted by The Polytechnic, Ibadan. The board is happy to associate with you. We are here to widen access to technical education.”
Adebiyi in his remarks explained that the institution is introducing the new courses in order to expand in its scope.
“The reason for this is for expansion. The world is expanding and we also need to move with the world in this expansion. Without skill acquisition there is not where you will be.”