The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has said the creation of the National Polytechnics Commission would address the lingering crisis within the Polytechnic sector.
ASUP President, Shammah Kpanja who advised the National Assembly against distractions in passing the Bill currently before it, alleged that the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Education were mulling the creation of a Commission for Technical Education after defending the budgetary appropriations recently.
In a statement on Sunday, Kpanja said there have been reports from different media outlets on the establishment of a Commission to regulate technical and vocational education in the country.
According to him, the Union view this alternative as a mere change of name without the desired impact on the regulation of Polytechnics in Nigeria.
He said: “This role is currently within the purview of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) established in 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 the 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.
“We are therefore surprised to read of moves to establish a Commission for technical education.”
Kpanja described the move as self-serving and a distraction capable of undermining the laudable efforts of the House of Representatives on the same subject.
“Our Union is therefore reiterating our support for the unbundling of the current mixture of institutions under the NBTE and the extraction of tertiary institutions from the mix to a dedicated Commission for effective regulation
“This is the noble aim of the bill currently before the National Assembly and it is important to make this clarification. We shall equally explore all acceptable avenues to bring this to fruition for the benefit of Nigeria.
“The Federal Ministry of Education should equally maintain a consistent position on issues of this nature having supported the bill during the public hearing and avoid the distraction of a “mere change of name” which the proponents of the National Commission for Technical Education represent.”
