An African proverb says all men are equal but not all men are equal to the task of competence. Another one says, good work never hides itself, because it emanates like smoke. I so much cherish the Hausa proverb that translates – The “palm cannot hide the sunshine” – because that is how Professor Idris Muhammad Bugaje is: he doesn’t want praises but his good works demand it for him; and it is what necessitated me to write about him.

To attest to the truth, the appointment of Bugaje as the Secretary-General of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) by President Muhammadu Buhari is the most important, because it is an appointment for Nigerians and the future of the country; for education guides the body and mind.

The recommendation of the Minister for Education, Malam Adamu Adamu on the appointment of Prof Bugaje to chair the NBTE is well thought, based on versatile experience and confidence on the man for the job.

Appointing Bugaje to man the NBTE, is the right thing at this time of dire need to get out of the woods in this time of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics’ (ASUP) strike. I am sure that ASUP strike will soon fade away as NBTE will settle many grudges of the union and give it the special treatment it deserves in moving polytechnics education forward in the country.

The technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions under the umbrella of NBTE are polytechnics, monotechnics, innovation enterprise institutions, vocational enterprise institutions and technical colleges. Given the above backdrop, they need an experienced person to set desirable goals for education and providing the best system of teaching and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

The NBTE, like many other institutions earlier headed by Bugaje, is ill in its responsibilities, shrinking in coma and slow in meeting the demands of excellent education and skills as the Board yearns for a patriotic and industrious pillar. I am sure the sad days have come to pass as the right pilot will surf its affairs to the Promised Land.

The appointment of Bugaje as the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education is a succour to Nigeria’s technical educational sector, being a man of worthy and unquestionable character that is up and doing in tackling administrative faults.

Everything starts with knowledge in the making of a prosperous country. In fact, education is the basic of our lives and development and we nurture our progress on the root of knowledge and when it suffers, the people suffer.

For many years, Nigerian students are on the wrong track of salvaging the nation. Nigerians pursue certificates than the knowledge. They want at any cost and time to finish their studies and have certificates to hunt for white collar jobs. This means, we don't patronise knowledge but papers. This patronage diminishes our vision, progress and draws us backward to a stagnating point.

But the book, “Skills not Degrees: The Solution to Nigeria’s Unemployment Problem” by Bugaje has truncated the dependency of polytechnic graduates on white collar jobs as entrepreneurs. As the NBTE’s executive secretary, he will be at the centre to solve educational predicaments in Nigerian polytechnics, enterprises, colleges of education using his vast intellectual experience of many years.

Bugaje believes in practical knowledge combined with certificate; he wants Nigeria to be like China, where students prioritise entrepreneurship and skills more than certificates. The professor wants to create a model where polytechnics students will be the creators of science and our technological blueprints. He wants to overhaul and enhance the educational curricula to suit our modernity and teaching system, and he was given the chance.

Another mission of Idris Bugaje is to initiate a pipeline of transporting ideas and knowledge to the outside world, because he looks at polytechnic students as the engine of lucrative economy and the producers of wealth that can turn Nigerian industries to gold and solve the unemployment predicament in the country.

In his passion to reduce the high number of unemployed youths in the country, Bugaje launched a corporate social responsibly (CSR) programme in Kaduna Polytechnic, supervised by the Centre of Technology, to train out-of-school youths around the zone. In this effort, thousands of youths were targeted to benefit from the programme while more than 100 youths were trained and assisted with trade-starter kits in welding, carpentry, plumbing and building.

Kaduna Polytechnic also collaborated with Panteka market and trained 40 artisans to assessors, adding the number of assessors in the country to an upgrade for entrepreneurship advancement.

On March 15, 2021, Kaduna Polytechnic lunched a TVET programme to train 100 artisans of Panteka traders in the effort to neutralise their informal training. At the programme, the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai declared Panteka Market a UNESCO Heritage Site. Panteka market has existed for over 50 years in the practice of informal trades with 40 entrepreneurship trades, and incorporating the traders for formal training will open new doors of opportunities and growth.

Waxing the scopes of polytechnic education programmes is the aspiration of Buhari's government for the giant African country to rely on its potentials. In this regard, Bugaje, as Rector of Kaduna Polytechnic, introduced the first-ever, Railway Engineering course into the country to commence in Kaduna Polytechnic with the intention to replace the expatriates with indigenous Nigerians in railway piloting and engineering.

Meanwhile, the first Gas Engineering course will commence in the northern region of the country in Kaduna Polytechnic. However, Kaduna Polytechnic introduced Nursing courses to be incorporated in the 2050 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in respect to maternal mortality and the UNICEF missions.

With these versatile knowledge and foresight of the professor, TVET education will set a prosperous line for its institutions. Skill is the new white collar job of the 21st century; so not only students of formal schools need skills but also the informal sector as skill is the panacea to Nigeria’s dilemma and the new currency of employment in global business relations.

Bugaje as a technocrat has risen from grass to grace and attained the rank of professor in the year 2006. Bugaje worked as a lecturer in Kaduna Polytechnic, senior lecturer in University of Maiduguri, and held deanship position of his faculty; taught in Ahmadu Bello University, headed his department and the deanship position of the faculty. He was also appointed Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, Zaria, and Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa.

Bugaje worked in the Diaspora – in London, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia - all in leadership and teaching.

While commending the Federal Government of Nigeria on this choice, I congratulate Bugaje on another deserving appointment to head the NBTE in the capacity of Executive Secretary.

•Goronyo writes from Kaduna and can be reached on: auwalgoronyo@gmail.com