The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has expressed concern over the proliferation of unaccredited and unlicensed private polytechnics, monotechnics and Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs) operating illegally in the country.
NBTE Executive Secretary Dr. Manzuid A Kazaure said as at the last count, over 65 of such institutions were operating as well as deceiving and defrauding innocent parents and students.
He said the illegal institutions were in the habit of admitting students with claims that they run programmes leading to the awards of National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) certificates.
Dr. Kazaure, who said security agencies have been alerted on the issue with a view to clamp down on operators, confirmed that some top officials of the Programmes Department of the NBTE were being investigated over issuance of registration licences to some private institutions.
In an interview with The Nation, Dr. Kazaure said an investigating team has been dispatched to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to probe an illegal institution that has been operating there.
“An investigating team has been sent to Uyo, while the Abuja case has been concluded. The Minister of Education will soon receive the report,” Dr Kazaure said.
He stressed that officials of the Programmes Department, who were culpable in the licensing of such institutions, would “face the full wrath of the law”.
He said the board was worried by the sudden rise in the number of private polytechnics, monotechnics and IEIs.
The Nation gathered that the NBTE has been inundated with complaints that such sudden rise could not be possible, except those saddled with the responsibility of checking the activities of the illegal institutions have either compromised or lowered the standard.
It was learnt that sequel to complaints over the way and manner some institutions got approval to begin academic activities, the management of the NBTE decided to beam a searchlight on the Programmes Department to see whether laid down rules were being followed.
According to a source, some institutions that parade themselves as private polytechnics and monotechnics in some states only have two or three buildings, without laboratory and library.
“Some use structures that cannot pass for a secondary school, without any sport facility or football field. Yet they got approval to operate.
“What we are witnessing is a bastardisation of our education system and it boils down to corruption and the culture of impunity. Some people believe they can do anything and get away with it. But we are talking about the future of our nation”, the source lamented.
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