*With 12% of young people not in education, employment or technical training
WorldStage– About 93 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce is engaged in informal employment, while approximately 12 per cent of young people are not in education, employment or technical training, according to Mr. Adewale Ajayi, Partner and Head of Tax, Regulatory and People Services at KPMG Africa and KPMG in Nigeria.
Ajayi spoke following the constitution of a team by the Minister of Education, Dr. Rauf Tunji Alausa, to work with KPMG to undertake a comprehensive assessment of MBTE and develop a functional organisational structure and operational framework that would strengthen the agency’s internal processes and enable it to deliver more effectively on its responsibilities.
Providing an industry perspective, Ajayi said the firm’s assessment had highlighted both the challenges confronting Nigeria’s technical and vocational education system and the opportunities available if the system is properly structured and strengthened.
He, however, noted that Nigeria performs strongly in the employability of TVET graduates, with only Singapore ranking ahead of the country among the markets assessed, indicating the potential of TVET to produce graduates with skills relevant to labour-market demands.
He also called for greater attention to curriculum development, noting that more than 55 per cent of existing curricula assessed were outdated, including programmes in engineering, science, arts and design.
Ajayi identified funding constraints and the five-year curriculum review cycle as some of the factors contributing to the challenge, while highlighting the recent update of the agriculture curriculum as a positive development.
The Minister said the findings from the KPMG engagement, together with the ongoing curriculum and skills reforms, would provide a stronger foundation for repositioning MBTE as an institution capable of effectively driving technical and vocational education in Nigeria.
He said a properly structured MBTE would be better positioned to supervise polytechnics, monotechnics and other institutions under its mandate, strengthen institutional accountability and ensure that technical education remains responsive to the changing needs of industry and the economy.
Alausa reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to building a technical and vocational education system anchored on practical competence, industry relevance, employability and productivity.
He said the repositioning of MBTE was central to the broader effort to make technical and vocational education a major driver of Nigeria’s human capital development and economic transformation.
The Minister added that the objective is to establish a more efficient, responsive and fit-for-purpose MBTE that can effectively deliver on its mandate and contribute meaningfully to the realisation of President Tinubu’s vision of a skilled, productive and globally competitive Nigerian workforce.
