The Director of Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Bem Goong, who disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, said the new institutions would be located in Abia, Kano and Delta States.

“In line with his determination to make tertiary education more accessible, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), has approved the establishment of three new federal polytechnics in the country.

“The polytechnics are to be sited in Umunnoechi in Abia, Orogun in Delta and Kabo in Kano State,” he said.

According to Goong, the new Institutions are to commence academic activities in October 2022.

He said this would bring the number of federal polytechnics in the country to 36, with every state having one.

The Executive Secretary of NBTE, Professor Idris Bugaje, made this appeal at a retreat for the chairmen of governing councils and principal officers of federal polytechnics, organised by the board, in collaboration with the Committee of Federal Polytechnic Rectors.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Improving Polytechnic Administration; The Role of Governing Council And Management,’ he lamented that Nigeria has over 200 universities and was still converting the few existing polytechnics.

He said, “If you convert a college of education into a university, you are upgrading them. If you convert a polytechnic, you are degrading that institution. So we need to stop this craze of converting polytechnics into universities.

“As we know, China converted 600 universities in 2017 into polytechnics because China knows the value of technical education and the value of skills because they want to be on top.

“If Nigeria wants to lead Africa and want to be among the top 20 countries in the next 20 to 30 years, we must change our attitude towards Technical and Vocational Education and Training.”

He further said the present state of Polytechnics in Nigeria was not encouraging, saying that all hands must be on deck to reposition the sector as quickly as possible.

“Without mincing words, the following are identified as key issues that are impeding the growth of Polytechnics in Nigeria; corrupt practices, poor corporate governance, governing Council and management power play, power tussle, conflict of interest etc, dearth of local and multinational manufacturing industries to employ TVET,” Bugaje said.

Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr David Gender, made this known in Abuja on Tuesday at a retreat for Chairmen of Governing Councils and Principal Officers of Federal Polytechnics.

He spoke as a representative of the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.

Gender told the retreat that government was also planning to review the scheme of service of polytechnic staff as well as resolve the issue of Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS-­15) migration.

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) developed CONTISS-15 in 2009.

It refers to the movement of staff from one salary grade level to the next salary grade level provided they meet all necessary requirements.

Some of the mandatory requirements include that staff must have been employed before August 2009.

According to Gender, the Federal Government is effectively engaging staff unions of polytechnics on their demands geared toward the improvement in the quality of research, teaching and learning.

“The Federal Government is committed to rapid development of our education sector with particular emphasis on technical and vocational education and training.

“This is achievable through improvement of tertiary education funding majorly by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, the CBN, and the Niger Delta Development Commission, among others.

“Unfortunately, efforts of government are hampered by persistent corruption in the sector.

“One of the strategies the ministry is adopting in addressing the issues and challenges in the polytechnics sector is the encouragement and support of periodic fund raising initiatives,’’ he said.

Gender told the retreat that initiatives included the launching of endowment funds, patents, consultancy and commercialization of research.