Experts Seek Evidence-based TVET Reforms as NBTE Unveils Digital Systems

Funmi Ogundare

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector have called for an urgent shift to evidence-based and data-driven policymaking, following the rollout of new digital platforms by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to strengthen regulation, planning and institutional accountability.

They stated this recently, at a high-level capacity-building workshop held at Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), where NBTE unveiled its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Digital Quality Assurance platform, and Data Management and Visualisation tools designed to improve governance and policy outcomes across TVET institutions nationwide.

In his remarks, the Rector of the college, Dr. Ibraheem Abdul, said sustainable education policies could no longer be built on fragmented, manual or unreliable data. He stressed that digital infrastructure has become critical to institutional effectiveness and national development planning.

According to him, modern education policy requires real-time access to credible data, verifiable records and measurable outcomes, warning that institutions that fail to align with industry and national skills priorities risk regulatory non-compliance and loss of relevance.

“Integrated digital systems go beyond administrative efficiency by providing policymakers with insights into student enrolment, graduation rates, staffing levels and skills outcomes, key indicators for informed decisions on funding, accreditation and workforce planning,” he stated.

The rector added that digitalisation also reduces discretionary human interference, thereby strengthening transparency and curbing corruption.

Commending NBTE for aligning digital transformation with skills development, he noted that technology, when properly deployed, enhances rather than replaces hands-on training and skills acquisition.

Also speaking, the Director of Academic and Strategic Planning at NBTE, Malam Lemu, described the workshop as a deliberate policy intervention aimed at harmonising institutional data flows with national education objectives.

He said the ERP system represents a strategic consolidation of NBTE’s multiple operational portals into a single policy-support architecture capable of generating consistent and comparable data across institutions.

“With ERP, accreditation, quality assurance, staffing, student records and service portals are integrated on one platform, enabling regulators and policymakers to identify trends, gaps and emerging needs rather than reacting on an ad-hoc basis,” he said.

Lemu added that the establishment of Data Management units across institutions, in line with federal directives, was intended to institutionalise data governance and ensure that policy formulation at both institutional and national levels is driven by validated information rather than estimates.

Declaring the workshop open, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said the board’s digital reform agenda was aimed at rebuilding trust in TVET data and restoring confidence in policy outcomes.

He noted that manual data processes had historically undermined planning, accreditation and the international credibility of Nigeria’s TVET system, adding that the new digital platforms now provide traceable, auditable and real-time information.

Represented by his Technical Adviser on ICT, Dr. Babaginda Albaba, Bugaje said unreliable data was a major cause of policy failure, stressing that the platforms would enable accurate planning, compliance monitoring, impact evaluation and informed decision-making that reflects institutional realities.

He explained that the Digital Quality Assurance platform supports evidence-based accreditation and programme evaluation, while the platform enables longitudinal analysis of enrolment, staffing and graduate output.

“The ERP system,  will track students from admission to graduation, strengthening certification integrity and supporting labour-market-responsive policies.”

Bugaje further disclosed that NBTE’s long-term vision includes the deployment of Artificial Intelligence-enabled analytics to support predictive policy modelling, reduce accreditation costs and enhance regulatory efficiency.