The Honourable Minister of Education, Mal. Adamu Adamu has approved the siting of the NBTE Zonal Offices across the six geopolitical zones of the country. The approval was conveyed in a letter with reference DTE/Poly.58/C.I/T/127 dated 19th July, 2021 signed by the Director, Polytechnic Education and Allied Institutions, Mr. Adeleye Adeoye.
The offices will initially be hosted by selected TVET institutions within the zones for immediate take-off and will strictly be administrative. The Zonal Offices will provide a one-stop-shop for institutions and other stakeholders within the Zones.
The offices are to be located in the following states: Katsina State, North-West; Bauchi State, North-East; Nasarawa State, North-Central; Lagos State, South-West; Enugu State, South-East and Edo State, South-South.
The Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje on receipt of the letter set-up a Committee chaired by the Director of Human Resources, Mal. Lawal Y. Hafiz that came up with Operational Guidelines for the Offices scheduled to take-off by 1st September, 2021.
Among the mandates of the Zonal Offices are: conducting visitations in the zones as may be directed by the Board; carrying out advocacy with Stakeholders in the Zone with the aim of promoting skills training and linkages of TVET Institutions with Industries; engaging governments at all levels and the Organized Private Sector (OPS) for the promotion of Skills training in TVET Institutions and facilitate the upgrading of Technical Colleges to offer National Skills Qualifications (NSQ) training; facilitating trainings at zonal levels for Polytechnics and other TVET institutions and up-skilling of staff among others.