The Federal Government will continue to prioritizing skills acquisition especially among graduates to enable them to become self-reliant and employers of labour as part of an effort to deemphasise paper qualification in the country.
The Registrar of the National Business and Technical Examinations Board, Dr. Mohammed Aminu Mohammed, stated this while addressing newsmen on Monday shortly after monitoring the 2026 NABTEB NBC/NTC examinations at the Government Technical College, Kano.
He said the measure was necessary so as to transform graduates from being dependent job seekers into self-reliant creators and innovators to tackle the current unemployment challenges bedeviling the country.
“The era we are going is skill, so that I don’t need to work for anybody to give me a job. There must be something I can do on my own to earn a living. This is where we are going,” he said.
According to him, “You need not to be a professor or a doctor to earn a living. You need not to be a journalist like you to make a living. Because there are other ways one can earn a living.
“And that is where everybody in the world today is going. Just to ensure you have a skill, you become self-reliant, you can employ others and you can be employed in the government where necessary. The era we are going, we are trying to deemphasize in paper qualification.
He noted that Nigeria could not afford to wait any longer to catch up with other countries of the world, hence the reason why the current administration under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing its best to promote activity initiative in the country.
The NABTEB Registrar, who was in the state in continuation of his nationwide monitoring of the examinations, expressed satisfaction with the increase in the number of candidates this year compared to what was obtained in the past.
“There’s a huge improvement to what we’ve been having over the years. Students are getting familiar with the technical subjects, knowing fully that there’s no short way to the development of any economy. It’s just to be able to learn what you can do to earn a living.
Dr. Mohammed said besides the increase in the number of candidates from 92,260. across the country last year to over 100,000 candidates this year, every parent now wants their children to be in technical school, as compared to before.
“Every parent now wants their children to be in technical school, as compared to before. Because the government has set some certain responsibility to take away from parents and every parent wants to capitalize on that opportunity, he added..
The 2026 NABTEB May/June NBC/NTC examinations officially commenced nationwide on Monday, June 15, 2026 and is expected to be concluded on Monday, July 13, 2026.
