The National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) has announced a staggering 287.76% increase in enrolment into Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes across Nigeria.

 

NABTEB Registrar, Dr. Mohammed Aminu Mohammed, disclosed this during the formal release of the 2025 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) results in Benin City. According to him, registration for technical college entrance examinations surged from 7,546 candidates in 2024 to 29,260 in 2025 — a jump he attributed to policy reforms led by the Minister of Education, Dr. Morufu Olatunji Alausa.

 

Out of the 29,260 registered candidates, 24,074 sat for the entrance exams conducted nationwide on June 14 across 32 Federal and 171 State Technical Colleges. The remaining 5,186 candidates (17.72%) were absent.

 

Providing a gender breakdown, Dr. Mohammed noted that 16,206 males (67.32%) and 7,868 females (32.68%) took the examination. This marks a major rise from the 2024 gender distribution of 5,197 males (68.87%) and 2,349 females (31.13%).

 

The registrar credited the Ministry of Education’s aggressive promotion of TVET as a viable career path, noting that students enrolled in diverse vocational fields—ranging from 17 engineering-related trades, 7 in construction, 8 in miscellaneous trades, and 4 business-related disciplines.

 

He commended Minister Alausa and the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Suaiba Said Ahmad, for their strategic reforms aimed at equipping young Nigerians with entrepreneurial and job-ready skills. The effort, he said, aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which envisions transforming Nigeria into a self-reliant, industrialised nation.

 

On the 2025 NCEE performance, Dr. Mohammed revealed that 9,389 candidates (39%) scored 50% and above, with only 316 candidates (1.31%) surpassing the 70% mark. A total of 14,685 candidates (61%) scored below 50%, while just eight candidates (0.03%) achieved topmost scores.

 

Despite the positive enrolment trend, he identified several persistent challenges: shortage of qualified instructors, parental bias against vocational education, lack of technical centres in many local governments, inadequate facilities, and low interest in certain trades.

 

Dr. Mohammed urged stakeholders to intensify efforts to bridge the TVET gap and boost enrolment, stressing that Nigeria’s ambition to join the ranks of the world’s top 20 industrialised nations depends on aligning technical education with national development goals.