The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has approved a one-year moratorium on new applications for polytechnics and monotechnics. However, health institutions have been exempted due to ongoing challenges with low enrollment.
This decision was announced in a statement by the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof. Idris Bugaje, on Thursday in Kaduna. According to Bugaje, the moratorium, effective immediately, means that all new applications for polytechnics and monotechnics will be suspended for 12 months.
Institutions currently under assessment will be required to pay specific fees in order to proceed with their registration. Bugaje outlined that polytechnics awaiting ministerial approval must pay an application fee of N4 million and a processing fee of N2 million per program of study. Monotechnics will be charged an application fee of N2 million and a processing fee of N1 million per program.
Applicants have 30 days to settle these fees, or their registration process will be terminated. Health institutions exempted from the moratorium will pay the same registration fees as monotechnics.
The NBTE executive secretary explained that the primary goal of this measure is to ensure that technical and vocational education institutions are properly populated according to their approved capacities.
