Press Statement:
NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION, KADUNA
RE: NBTE ES UNDER FIRE
Our attention has been drawn to an online publication titled ‘‘NBTE Executive Secretary under fire over multimillion Naira fraud allegation’’ published by ICIR, February 10, 2025. The article was orchestrated by some staff of the NBTE who were being investigated for unwholesome practices and corruption. Let it be stated clearly that the Executive Secretary is not under any investigation by ICPC. In mid 2024, there were several petitions by Lawal Hafiz, then suspended Director of NBTE and his collaborators, on allegations of diversion of funds for accreditation which was answered in letters to the Hon. Minister of Education and other government agencies.
Since the creation of NBTE in 1977, physical accreditation had been done through cash advances to staff, who in turn pay resource persons air tickets, honoraria etc and at the end make retirements which were audited. The introduction of digital accreditation which would require no such cash advances in early 2024, meant clearance of a backlog of physical accreditations some paid in 2021. That period saw a lot of activities and cash advances all of which have now been retired.
NBTE had closed the door for physical accreditation but due to complaint from stakeholders we had to allow a window till March 2025 to enable all institutions fix their ICT infrastructure. From April 2025 only digital accreditation shall be sustained and if any institution wants physical accreditation, it shall be outsourced to consultants as approved by the Hon. Minister of Education.
Ramat Polytechnic last year hosted one hundred and one (101) external resource persons and so were other institutions. Paying ₦ 30Million for 100 persons reduces it to an average of ₦300,00 per resource person which is not outrageous going by cost of air tickets. Furthermore, whatever institutions pay, there are other components that are not cash advanced such as copies of curricula, NBTE Journals, service charges, inspectorate surcharge, etc. For that reason the amount paid by institutions is always higher than cash advance to the finance officers for resource persons. There were no violation of financial regulations.
On NBTE Consult Ltd, it was an innovation introduced by the ES when he assumed office in 2021. The company was duely registered by CAC to carryout training and consultancy services to generate income for the NBTE. The company has been operating as a private sector firm within the law and generating additional revenue for the activities of the Board, which has no other major source of IGR in face of dividing value of the overhead budgets.
The NBTE had no ‘‘Luxury cars’’ to sell. What the ES inherited when he took office in 2021 were a bunch of accident vehicles and a Toyota Hilux as official car. He had to borrow a car from Kaduna Polytechnic till year end when he managed to buy 12 brand new vehicles from our capital budget.
The campaign of columny by Lawal Hafiz and his band has been going on for about a year now using various print and online media, having exhausted his petitioning campaign.
The Board shall not be diverted, shall remain focused and shall not relent in ensuring transparency in our operations, the deployment of technology to minimize human interface and taking TVET to a new level of renewed hope for Nigerian youth.
(Mrs) Fatima Abubakar
Head Media Unit, Office of the Executive Secretary
