NBTE intervenes as NYSC rejects lab tech graduates not registered with NISLT

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has intervened after the Nation Youth Service Corps (NYSC) required professional certification to mobilise science laboratory technology (SLT) graduates.

The National Institute for Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT) is the government agency that regulates the practice of SLT.

It oversees SLT management in secondary schools, colleges of education, polytechnics, universities, research institutes, and industries.

The government agency mandates graduates of science lab technology to register with it before practising in the profession.

In a letter seen by TheCable, the NBTE said it received reports that the NYSC was demanding an NISLT certification as one of the criteria for registering SLT polytechnic graduates as prospective corps members on orientation camps.

In the letter addressed to the NYSC director general, Idris Bugaje, the NBTE executive secretary, reiterated that the NBTE remains the sole regulator of polytechnic education in Nigeria.

He said the NBTE never made registration with any professional body as a condition for polytechnic graduation.

“We carry out joint accreditation of programmes with the NISLT and other professional bodies as covered in our MoU,” Bugaje said.

“The NYSC should have sought clearance from the NBTE as regulators of the polytechnic sector before taking this decision.

“The NBTE regulates polytechnics. No professional body shall be allowed to take over that mandate.”

Bugaje asked the NYSC to rescind the decision to make NISLT certification a condition for mobilising HND graduates for national service.

“Professional bodies can wait for these graduates after NYSC to register with them, for those who wish to practice,” he added.

In July, the NBTE set a new qualifying exam as a condition for polytechnic graduation.

The board said polytechnic students are to undergo mandatory skills qualification (MSQ) to graduate.