Jonas Ezieke, Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Federal Polytechnics and Higher Technical Education has called for stronger engagement with the Federal Ministry of Education to enhance legislative oversight of the Federal Government’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme.
The committee made the call on Tuesday during a meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, in Abuja, where he disclosed that more than 250,000 Nigerians were undergoing skills training at about 1,200 centres across the country.
The meeting followed months of unanswered correspondence from the ministry, prompting the committee to summon the minister in July and issue a final summons in August over the ministry’s failure to provide requested information on the programme.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Kayode Laguda, who represents Surulere I Federal Constituency of Lagos State, said the lawmakers had written six letters between January 2025 and July 2026 seeking updates on the implementation, activities and progress of the TVET programme, but received no response.
Laguda said the committee had earlier invited the ministry to a meeting in July, but neither the minister nor any representative appeared, raising concerns about the ministry’s cooperation with the legislature in the discharge of its oversight responsibilities.
“We wrote six different correspondences on the same subject matter, requesting status reports on TVET’s activities and programmes. We did not get any response from your ministry,” he said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, however, Alausa apologised to the committee, explaining that he had not personally received the correspondence.
“I would have to profusely apologise and let you know that I did not get any of the correspondence that you sent,” the minister said.
He attributed the communication breakdown to the transfer of a desk officer responsible for receiving correspondence from the National Assembly, adding that he had directed his team to investigate the circumstances surrounding the failure to respond.
The minister acknowledged the constitutional responsibility of the legislature to scrutinise executive programmes and assured the lawmakers of improved communication and cooperation going forward.
Following an executive session with the minister and officials of the ministry, Laguda described the engagement as productive, saying the committee was satisfied with the explanations provided.
“Our meeting was progressive and purposeful. We are satisfied and, as I said, we will be moving forward and having better engagements,” he said.
The chairman stressed that the committee required a comprehensive understanding of the TVET programme to assess its implementation, identify challenges and ensure that public resources were being deployed effectively.
“Information is power. Having more knowledge about what is going on will aid us in carrying out our expected duties and having oversight functions,” Laguda said.
He explained that the committee intended to deepen its understanding of the programme’s entire value chain, including funding arrangements, the selection and monitoring of training centres, the quality of instruction and the employment prospects of beneficiaries.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Alausa said the administration of President Bola Tinubu had repositioned technical and vocational education as a critical component of Nigeria’s education system and strategy for addressing unemployment and the shortage of skilled manpower.
“Before this president came in, technical and vocational education was almost totally dissipated in our country. But I can tell you, in a short three years, we’ve brought that back,” he said.
According to the minister, more than 250,000 Nigerians are currently receiving training at approximately 1,200 skills acquisition centres nationwide under the TVET initiative.
He said each trainee receives a monthly stipend of N30,000, while participating training centres receive N50,000 per student monthly to support the delivery of practical, industry-relevant instruction.
Alausa explained that the funding arrangement was intended to enable training centres to engage qualified instructors, acquire modern equipment and improve their facilities to meet the demands of contemporary technical and vocational education.
He said the ministry had also streamlined the trades covered by the programme from nearly 60 to about 22 priority areas, including fashion design, solar photovoltaic installation, electrical installation and plumbing.
The minister disclosed that the initiative had attracted substantial interest from Nigerians seeking practical skills, with the first enrolment exercise recording about 1.3 million applicants and the second attracting nearly 1.4 million applications.
He said the government had been compelled to limit admissions because the number of applicants exceeded available funding and the capacity of participating training centres.
Beyond training, Alausa said the ministry was working to ensure that beneficiaries could translate their newly acquired skills into employment and sustainable livelihoods.
He disclosed that a job portal had been developed to enable trainees to upload their résumés and connect with employers seeking workers with relevant technical competencies.
The ministry, he added, was also collaborating with the Bank of Industry to support beneficiaries interested in establishing their own businesses.
“We don’t just want them to be job seekers. We want them to be micro-entrepreneurs and do business themselves,” the minister said.
On access to technical education, Alausa said the Federal Government had made technical education free in all federal technical colleges and one selected state technical college in each state.
He explained that the government was covering tuition and other school fees under the arrangement to reduce financial barriers and encourage more young Nigerians to pursue technical and vocational training.
The minister further disclosed that the ministry was strengthening the capacity of teachers and lecturers through partnerships with institutions in Singapore.
According to him, the initiative includes training instructors in technical colleges and lecturers in polytechnics to improve teaching standards, practical instruction and the overall quality of technical education.
Alausa said the government was working towards a private sector-led TVET system in which businesses would play a greater role in skills development and employment, while the public sector would provide funding, regulation and an enabling environment.
The committee’s engagement comes amid efforts to strengthen accountability in the implementation of the programme, which is designed to equip Nigerians with industry-relevant skills, expand employment opportunities, promote entrepreneurship and address the gap between technical education and labour market demands.
The lawmakers are expected to sustain their engagement with the ministry to obtain further information on the programme’s implementation and assess its impact on trainees and the wider economy.
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