Nigeria’s polytechnic education system needs closer ties with manufacturers and a stronger focus on workplace training to prepare graduates for industrial jobs, the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Professor Idris Bugaje, has said.
Bugaje made the call at a strategic session organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) in partnership with the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organisations (WAITRO) in Abuja on October 21 and 22, 2026.
He argued that technical education would deliver greater value if students could acquire practical skills in environments where those skills are needed.
One of the proposals discussed was greater participation by manufacturing companies in designing polytechnic curricula, improving laboratories and workshops, and providing students with more exposure to industrial operations. Bugaje also advocated industry advisory boards at faculty and school levels to help institutions keep training programmes aligned with changing workplace requirements.
Under the NBTE framework described by Bugaje, the board provides 90 per cent of the minimum academic standards for polytechnic programmes, while institutions retain 10 per cent flexibility to adapt their curricula to local industry needs. He said this flexibility could help polytechnics respond more directly to the skills demands of businesses in their communities.
The NBTE chief also proposed transforming the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) into more structured, long-term apprenticeships. Under such an arrangement, students could spend more time learning on actual production lines while completing their academic programmes, gaining experience that may be difficult to acquire through classroom instruction alone.
Bugaje linked the need to strengthen technical training to the longstanding disparity between Higher National Diploma (HND) holders and university degree holders. He said the preference often given to university qualifications had discouraged technical students and affected career progression in parts of the civil service and industry.
He asserted that polytechnics play a significant role in preparing technicians, technologists and skilled artisans, while universities have a different emphasis in their academic and research functions. In his view, Nigeria’s industrial development requires both pathways to be valued and supported according to the skills they contribute to the economy.
The NBTE executive secretary pointed to legislative efforts to address the HND/BSc disparity, including proposals to allow polytechnics to award Bachelor of Technology honours degrees. The proposed changes to the legal framework should not, however, be treated as an implemented reform until the legislative process is completed and the relevant requirements are met.
The discussion also examined how Nigeria could better connect research carried out in tertiary institutions with the needs of manufacturers. WAITRO Secretary-General Dr Benjin Luo said researchers and businesses often work separately, leaving some research findings without a clear route to commercial use while companies struggle to find solutions to production challenges.
Luo called for intermediary organisations that can identify industrial problems, translate them into research projects and help researchers assess market demand for their innovations. Such links, he said, could help local businesses improve productivity while creating opportunities for Nigerian institutions to collaborate with international research and technology organisations.
RMRDC Director-General Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso similarly stressed that research should produce more than academic publications. He said stronger partnerships between researchers, technical institutions and the private sector were needed to turn findings into marketable products, industrial processes and employment opportunities. <Cite refs={[“turn500769search10”]}/>
Ike-Muonso also highlighted RMRDC’s collaboration with China’s Shanghai Yangtze Delta Innovation Institute, Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute and Anhui Yangtze Delta Innovation Institute under the National Innovation Center par Excellence. The partnership is intended to support joint research, technology transfer, capacity building and the adaptation of technologies to Nigeria’s industrial needs. <Cite refs={[“turn500769search0”]}/>
Bugaje urged Nigeria to learn from China’s approach to linking technical institutions with factories and industrial zones. He argued that closer integration between training and production could strengthen local manufacturing, create jobs and reduce reliance on imported goods.
The proposals place the relationship between education and employment at the centre of Nigeria’s industrial development agenda. Their impact will depend on whether institutions, employers and government agencies turn the calls for curriculum reform, apprenticeships and research collaboration into sustained programmes that give students practical experience and provide industry with the skills and innovations it needs.
