Stakeholders in Nigeria’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector have called for a decisive transition to evidence-based and data-driven policymaking, warning that reliance on fragmented and manual data systems is no longer sustainable in a modern education ecosystem.
The call was made at a high-level capacity-building workshop hosted by Yaba College of Technology, where participants were introduced to critical digital tools designed to improve governance and accountability across TVET institutions. These include an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, the Digital Quality Assurance Platform of the National Board for Technical Education, and advanced data management and visualisation solutions.
In his welcome address, YABATECH Rector, Dr Ibraheem Abdul, stressed that sustainable education policy can no longer be built on unreliable or disjointed data sources, saying digital infrastructure has become central to institutional efficiency and national development planning.
“Policy decisions in today’s education ecosystem demand instant access to credible data, verifiable records, and measurable outcomes,” Abdul said. “Without this, institutions risk falling out of regulatory alignment and losing relevance in addressing industry needs and national skills priorities.”
He noted that integrated digital systems go beyond administrative efficiency by providing policymakers with real-time insights into student enrolment, graduation rates, staffing profiles, and skills outcomes – key indicators for informed decisions on funding, accreditation, and workforce planning.
Abdul also highlighted the role of digitalisation in reducing discretionary human interference, thereby strengthening transparency and curbing corruption.
Commending NBTE’s leadership, the rector said the Board’s regulatory framework effectively aligns digital transformation with skills development, adding that technology, when properly deployed, enhances rather than replaces hands-on training and practical skills acquisition.
Also speaking at the event, NBTE Director of Academic and Strategic Planning, Malam Lemu, described the workshop as a deliberate policy intervention aimed at harmonising institutional data flows with national education objectives.
“With the ERP system, accreditation, quality assurance, staffing, student records, and service portals are integrated into a single platform,” Lemu explained. “This enables regulators and policymakers to identify trends, gaps, and emerging needs, rather than reacting to issues on an ad-hoc basis.”
He added that the establishment of Data Management Units across institutions, pursuant to federal directives, is intended to institutionalise data governance and ensure that policy formulation at both institutional and national levels is driven by validated information rather than estimates.
Declaring the workshop open, NBTE Executive Secretary Prof. Idris Bugaje, represented by his Technical Adviser on ICT, Dr Babaginda Albaba, said the Board’s digital reform agenda is rooted in rebuilding trust in TVET data and restoring confidence in policy outcomes.
“Policy fails when data is unreliable. With these platforms, we can plan accurately, monitor compliance, evaluate impact, and make informed decisions that truly reflect the realities of our institutions,” Bugaje said.
He explained that the Digital Quality Assurance Platform supports evidence-based accreditation and programme evaluation, while the data management system enables longitudinal analysis of enrolment, staffing levels, and graduate output.
The ERP platform, he added, will track students from admission to graduation, strengthening certification integrity and supporting labour-market-responsive policies.
Bugaje further revealed that NBTE’s long-term vision includes the deployment of artificial intelligence-enabled analytics to support predictive policy modelling, reduce accreditation costs, and enhance regulatory efficiency.
Participants at the workshop, including registrars, ICT directors, and data management officers from TVET institutions across the South-West, were urged to act as policy enablers by ensuring accurate data capture and strict compliance at institutional levels.
The workshop underscored NBTE’s resolve to reposition TVET governance through digital intelligence, policy coherence, and evidence-based decision-making, as Nigeria seeks to align skills development with economic growth and global competitiveness.