YAABATECH Set For Skills Revolution As FG Committee Pushes Polytechnic Products To Global Market
The Federal Government has intensified efforts to reposition Nigeria’s polytechnics as centres of innovation, production and industrial growth, with Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) emerging as one of the leading institutions expected to drive the transformation.
This came to the fore during the visit of the Ministerial Committee on Skills Development and Engineering Workshop Intervention in Nigerian Polytechnics to Yabatech for the inspection, review and assessment of progress in skills development and utilisation of intervention facilities in the institution.
The committee, led by President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Prof. Sodiq Abubakar, said the Federal Government was determined to change the nation’s educational narrative from certificate-driven learning to practical skills acquisition, innovation and product commercialisation.
Addressing the management of the college, Prof. Abubakar said the current administration established the ministerial monitoring committee to ensure value for money in government investment in human capital development across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
According to him, the era when institutions merely produced graduates without practical competence must end.
“We have been focusing more on curriculum and certification for decades, but many graduates lack hands-on proficiency and practical skills. The government has risen to change that narrative,” he said.
The COREN president explained that the committee was divided into sub-groups across the country, with the South-West team mandated to inspect selected polytechnics participating in the Federal Government’s new “One Polytechnic, One Product” initiative aimed at transforming research outputs and prototypes into globally competitive products.
He described Yabatech as one of the foremost polytechnics in Nigeria and among the institutions selected for the intervention because of its long-standing reputation in engineering and technical education.
Under the initiative, institutions are expected to identify commercially viable products, develop industrial partnerships and establish production lines capable of competing in both local and international markets.
Drawing inspiration from Japan’s post-World War II industrial model, Prof. Abubakar said the initiative seeks to move polytechnics beyond research papers and laboratory prototypes to real industrial production.
“We want to see Yabatech becoming an industrial hub with products branded and competing globally. Everything — research, teaching and innovation — must collapse into products that can attract investors and create jobs,” he said.
He added that the Federal Government, through intervention agencies, was prepared to commit substantial funding to support selected products and industrial partnerships capable of scaling into commercially sustainable ventures.
Another member of the committee, Engr, Olawunmi Gasper, stressed that the new policy direction would shift attention from mere accreditation and certification to innovation-driven enterprise development.
According to him, many institutional workshops are filled with abandoned prototypes that never get to the market because of lack of commercialisation, funding and industry collaboration.
“The narration is changing from just producing graduates to building mini-industries within polytechnics,” he said, adding that the initiative would encourage institutions to partner with private sector operators with strong marketing and business expertise.
Responding, the rector of Yaba College of Technology, Dr. Ibraheem Abdul, commended the Federal Government and the committee for what he described as a timely and transformative intervention.
He said the institution had consistently pursued innovations and product development but had been constrained largely by inadequate funding required to move prototypes into commercial production.
According to the rector, Yabatech researchers and innovators have developed several patented products and machines over the years, but the high cost of production, testing and market validation had prevented many from reaching full commercial scale.
“We have done a lot of production process designs and innovations, but funding has always been the major challenge. Sometimes even producing samples for testing is extremely expensive,” he said.
Dr. Abdul revealed that the college had intensified efforts to push its innovations beyond laboratory stages and had already begun engaging researchers and patent owners on commercialisation opportunities.
He noted that the institution was fully aligned with the Federal Government’s vision of transforming polytechnics into centres of industrial production and innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
