WATCH THE VIDEO HERE The Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Polytechnics and Higher Education, Faud Kayode Laguda, stated this during 2024 budget performance review and 2025 budget defense with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). Naijaonpoint reports that Laguda decried the misuse of funds by agencies while at the same time demanding for increase in their budgetary allocations. The Surulere 1 Federal Constituency of Lagos State member emphasized that performance was key if the nation must move forward. He said this while reacting to the demand of the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Professor Idris Bugaje, for an increase in the agency’s 2025 budget. “Performance is very key because that is what will help us move forward. It is an acceptable and known fact that polytechnics in Nigeria are poorly funded. We know. But we need to justify our need for more funds and show why we need it. To be honest with ourselves, have we been able to do that? That is what we should answer. “If we speak with each other truthfully, we know we are not doing good in that aspect. Not everyone, but most of us are not doing good in that aspect. The whole essence of this committee is to bring out the best in us. And to put corrective measures where it is needed,” he said. The All Progress Congress (APC) lawmaker charged polytechnics to live up to the demands of society. He emphasized the need for a change in curriculum to meet the demands of the present time. The lawmaker also stressed the need for polytechnics to form synergies with stakeholders to address challenges affecting its educational system. Earlier, Professor Bugaje, stated that there was a need for the recruitment of more personnel to increase the oversight function of NBTE. He decried that most agencies with lesser oversight functions have more staff than NBTE. He added that more funds for the agency would help scale its performance. “For personnel, we are looking for an improvement because we have about 700 institutions to visit and our staff strength is at 330, which is very low. “Similar agencies like ours have more staff fewer institutions and more funds to carry out their duties, but our personnel cost is very low, so we want that one to be increased so that we can inject more hands to do that rotation,” Bugaje said.
The House of Representatives has said the request for an increase in budgetary allocations must be matched with evidence of the performance of the previous allocation.