The NBTE is organizing the official opening ceremony of the TVET Institutions Research and Innovation hall. This exhibition hall is to showcase, exchange and disseminate knowledge on all research works that can be commercialized as a tool or key driver of the nation’s economy. The exhibition hall will facilitate the exchange of knowledge and innovations among all stakeholders, researchers, practitioners, regulators and investors. It will also provide a platform to promote TVET Institutions Research and Innovation commersialisable research projects to groups that may have little or no knowledge of TVET Institutions Research and Innovation Research Projects. Facilitate growth of indigenous manufacturing hinged on Science, Technology and Innovations (STI) as well as generally promote STI culture in Nigeria. The Institutions commercializable research projects will fast-track the implementation of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Road Map’ 2030 and bring to fore the capabilities of TVET Institutions in contributing to Economic diversification of Nigeria. This will also give insight about recent research development activities in the TVET Institutions and can be used as starting point for cooperation among our researchers and industries. Polytechnics and other TVET institutions are encouraged to register patents and use these as instruments for commercializing the research and development products. This could be a window for IGR generation by Polytechnics which has not been exploited in the past. Furthermore, collaboration with other higher Education Institutions and Industries is also encouraged because Polytechnics have capacity to fabricate and move bench-scale Research to Pilot-plant, a major missing link which has delayed Universities from delivering Innovations from their Researches.

The Executive Secretary has blamed the failure of functional education for the myriad of problems confronting Nigeria. Prof. Bugaje said in a paper delivered at the maiden edition of Science Conference of Kaduna State University that the high unemployment and security challenges in the country can be related to the failure of educational system to live up to the provisions of the National Policy on Education (NPE). According to him “Nomadic education has failed and that’s why some herders became bandits, University and Polytechnic education has failed and that’s why we have joblessness within abundant skills gaps”. He stated that though securing Nigeria in the short term mean putting more boots on ground, what is required in the long term is upskilling the Nigerian youths for economic empowerment. Prof. Bugaje in the paper “Role of Science in the job creation and economic revitalisation”, lamented the skills mismatch prevalent in Nigeria leading to unemployed graduates roaming the streets with huge skills gap in our industries.

Our attention has been drawn to an advertorial, in the form of an Open Letter to His Excellency Mr President, which appeared in Daily Trust Newspaper of 17th November 2021 by one Shehu Wada and Co. on behalf of DB Mangal Nigeria Ltd concerning the recovery of NBTE Land and Property, Plot 445 Maitama Abuja. The advertorial is misleading and DB Mangal should have gone to Court to assert his rights over the land. What they failed to mention to the public was the subsisting judgment of the Abuja High Court in 2007 that returned the confiscated land back to NBTE including the structures illegally built by DB Mangal Nigeria Ltd. As recent as June 2019, the Special Presidential Investigation Panel reaffirmed the High Court order and in a ceremony handed over the building to NBTE. DB Mangal Nig Ltd mobilized hoodlums who attacked and once again forcefully took over the property after allegedly compromising the NBTE leadership at that time.

The National Board for Technical Education has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Zaptrance World Wide Systems Ltd for the Development of Quick Response Code (QR Code) Generating System for use on certificates issued by TVET Institutions. The Executive Secretary, Prof Idris M. Bugaje said at the M.O.U signing ceremony that the system will enable schools to generate unique QR Codes for insertion on certificates. He said this will enable prospective employers, Institutions etc to scan the code for authentication and determine instantly if the certificate is genuine. He urged Institutions to key into this initiative to fast track their certificate verification processes and eliminate racketeering.

The Board has launched the Resource Persons Application Portal which will be used to source for Resource Persons that will be involved in the Board's quality assurance visitations. The Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje while briefing newsmen in Kaduna explained that the launching of the portal is a step towards the digitization of the Board's operations, adding that in the next two to three years the activities of the Board will be technology driven.