ASUP backs establishment of National Polytechnics Commission

POLYTECHNICS lecturers under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, have thrown their weight in support of the establishment of National Polytechnics Commission by the National Assembly.

ASUP has also expressed surprise to moves to establish a Commission for technical education, stressing that it viewed such a move as a mere change of name without the desired impact on the regulation of Polytechnics in Nigeria.

In a statement on Sunday signed by its President, Shammah Kpanja, ASUP reiterated its support for the unbundling of the current mixture of institutions under the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, and the extraction of tertiary institutions from the mix to a dedicated Commission for effective regulation.

The statement read: “We have been reading reports from different media outlets on the establishment of a Commission to regulate technical and vocational education in the country.

“This role is currently within the purview of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) established since 1977. Nigerian Polytechnics (and Monotechnics) represent the tertiary

education institutions under the regulation of the NBTE.

“With the exponential growth in the number and profile of Polytechnics over the past 4 decades, as well as the explosion in the numbers of institutions under the regulatory regime of the NBTE, our Union has been making demands (and rightfully so) for the establishment of a separate Commission to regulate the tertiary education institutions found in the current mix of over 700 institutions under the NBTE.

“This will not only ensure improved regulation of these tertiary institutions, but also align with the practice in the other two tertiary education sub sectors in the country.

“We therefore threw our weight in support of the recent efforts of the National Assembly to establish a National Polytechnics Commission through a bill in the House of Representatives (SB 673) sponsored by Hon. Idu Igariwey.

“This effort is coming after several failed legislative efforts in the past on same subject.

“The bill is currently awaiting its final reading and passage at the House of Representatives after stakeholders expressed their full support for the bill during the public hearing in August, 2024.

“More so, the bill had the support of the Federal Ministry of Education as the establishment of the Commission is clearly captured in the approved Road Map for the Education sector covering 2024 to 2027.