From David Christopher,Lafia
National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, has rated Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Technology Institute in Lafia as the best skills training centre in the country.
Deputy Director and Head of the National Skills Qualifications, NSQ, NBTE, Engr Ja’afaru Garba gave the rating while on a courtesy call on Governor Abdullahi Sule at the Government House, Lafia on Tuesday.
Garba, who led a team from NBTE on accreditation exercise at the institute, said Nasarawa is the first state in the country to hearken to the call by the board for the establishment of a skills training centre.
“For skills training in most cases, you don’t have to provide a job for a well trained skilled personnel. He won’t even go for that white-collar job. He would rather set up his own workshop and start practicing his profession,” he said.
NBTE was particularly happy that there are over 40 different occupational areas in the vocational institute, explaining that they were in Lafia to perform the accreditation of the vocational and technical institute in line with its regulations.
“Initially, the application we received was to come for advisory visit. When we started communicating, we discovered that we have our own trainee who is heading the centre. Apart from the doctorate degree, we gave him another qualification as Quality Assurance Assessor, an internal quality assurance manager.
“We said we don’t need to come for any advisory visit. You already have your adviser. Any advice you are looking for in NSQ, Dr Daniel will give it to you because we have trained him on QAA. Our duty here is to check the resources available and that it conforms with the regulations of the agency,” he stated.
Responding, Governor Sule said he was motivated to establish Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Technology Institute following the difficulties in getting certified technicians at the beginning of the construction of Dangote Refinery.
Sule recounted that Dangote was forced to recruit 4,000 certified technicians from India before work on the refinery could commence.
The governor said it was also part of the vision for establishing the institute for younger retirees, not just fresh graduates to be provided with skills for self-reliance.
Commenting on the accreditation, he called on NBTE to undertake the exercise with an open mind with a view to identifying lapses that need to be corrected.
