World Skills Day: Celebrating Prof. Bugaje as the Icon of skills in Nigeria

By Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim, Goronyo

The 15th of July is a World Skills Day assigned to celebrate skills promoters and participants. The theme of this year’s world skills is : “Skills for a Shared Future” focuses on adapting to rapid global changes, with a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), digital literacy, the green transition, and vocational training.

Nigeria should not be left alone in this prospect because the country is shifting its gaze on skills as an antidote of unemployment and a prospect for youth development.

Through the journey of skills development in Nigeria, Professor Idris M. Bugaje has become a successful driver of skills initiative, he has taken longer time campaigning for it, he has used his talent and academic resources to promotes its concept and importance. Through his advocacy, he has brought so much panacea to Nigerian youths and upgraded many trades to international standards.

The passion of Professor Bugaje is not just on skills but the interest to provide a way for Nigeria youths to compete with global youths, become selves-reliance and contribute to the Nigerian economy.

As a chemical engineer, professor Bugaje learnt that skills create opportunities and certifying it will help grow the economic opportunities of Nigerians and its GDP. He advocated for an economic model used in different developed nations to help in reducing dependence on oil and imported revenue, his vision is to make Nigeria grow and rich in the skills market to the extent that the country will be exporting skills and labor in dignity and respect.

Through his vision, thousands of Nigeria youths were taken to Denmark, Morocco, Syria and other African nations to acquire standard skills and get money. 

In a Nigerian system where a polytechnic graduate is not just handed a certificate, but also a skill. This helps in building the youths with multiple opportunities. Professor Bugaje’s professorial idea has improved standards in our Polytechnics, colleges of education, and the informal sectors are formalized to create more opportunities and achieve global standards.

Those who worked with him at any place remember a leader obsessed with one question: “Are our students employable?” That question is his driven force in changing the skills narratives in the country.

Bugaje ensured Nigeria stopped being a spectator and he stood as a referee who designed the roadmap of skills development in the country. Under his leadership, Nigeria gained admission into WorldSkills International and was designated as the continental headquarters for the Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network, SASASNET. This forum now becomes an umbrella of skills advocacy and championship for Africa skills independence.

Through his advice, the government of Kaduna state under Governor Uba Sani, Panteka Market is remodeled and assigned as a skill hub development in the state, now training thousands of youths and making them independent and employable.

Panteka is now being redeveloped as a mega hub for carpentry, welding, painting, and local production tools that export goods and services.

Also, through Professor Bugaje Advocacy, Kaduna state built Vocational and Technology Skills Acquisition Centers in Rigachikun, Samaru Kataf, and Soba. These projects give the youths of Kaduna state the opportunity to earn certificates and skills.

The single most revolutionary policy under Bugaje is his policy that every polytechnic student should graduate with two certificates through the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF), and Kaduna Polytechnic is the first Polytechnic to start this program. The logic is brutal and beautiful because the country keeps producing thousands of graduates yearly, but industry complains of a skills gap. The NSQF certificate will erase that skill gap and give more advantage to students of technical institutions upper hand on employment.

A nation cannot industrialize with outdated courses. Under Bugaje, NBTE undertook comprehensive curriculum modernization and new ones were developed to match the needs of Nigerian youths in ICT, AI, data science, renewable energy, agritech, mechatronics, and digital media areas that did not exist in polytechnic catalogues a decade ago. More than 100 national curricula have been developed and reviewed to align with industry and labor market demands. This development is also aimed at providing multiple opportunities for Nigerian youths in the 21st Century.

He also launched the National Occupational Standards, NOS, to benchmark Nigerian competencies against global standards. This initiative gave birth to Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to certify competency of trades for global opportunities. Artisans can now go to RPL accredited centers and get certificates they can use to be employed in government organizations and formal agencies.

Prof. Bugaje used his tactics and God’s gifted idea to improve accreditation standards in polytechnics by replacing paper files with digital accreditation. Institutions. Institutions now apply for accreditation digitally and receive feedback online at faster, cheaper, and more transparent methods. This facilitates the creation of more programs in polytechnics that help Nigeria youths grow educationally. To bring formal education at the doorstep of Nigerian artisans without leaving their jobs, Prof. Bugaje partnered with the Commonwealth of Learning to develop Nigeria’s first Open and Distance Learning, ODL, framework to give Nigeria youths more opportunities in polytechnic programs. Nigeria youths can now study anywhere, anytime and at affordable fees.

For decades, HND holders hit a glass ceiling. There was a dichotomy between HND and degree certificates. HND holders get lower position and bias in places of work but through the commitments of Professor Bugaje the discrepancy has reduced, and now polytechnics employ degree and HND graduates on the same level.

The Universities Commission, NUC, NBTE created the Master of Technology, M.Tech, progression pathway for HND holders. This commitment is more than a policy but a restoration of dignity to millions of Nigerian technologists in polytechnics and technical colleges.

Professor Bugaje’s works have given Nigeria international recognition and opportunities. Through his leadership and skill promotion he is considered a global skill Icon. He is sought out globally to offer assistance and solutions to unemployment problems through innovation, and nations have engaged him to help design their national skills blueprints.

Through professor Bugaje’s agenda of “Renewed Hope’ to boost food production in the country, he championed Agritech integration in TVET institutions. This will help in practical training, 

food security, and new Internally Generated Revenue for schools.

To modernize Nigeria laboratories in Nigeria polytechnics, through the Federal Ministry of Education with the effort of NBTE, TETFund Skills-G Intervention will construct thirty-seven state-of-the-art laboratories in federal and state polytechnics.

A leader is known by the honors he receives and the impact behind them. Professor Bugaje’s work has attracted wide recognition.

In 2026, Bugaje was appointed Chairman of the Ministerial Monitoring Committee on Skills Development and Engineering Upgrade Interventions in Nigerian polytechnic. He also received Africa’s Most Impactful Education Icon award named among 100 leading education personalities on the continent for advancing TVET education.

He received commendation by Association of Provosts of Colleges of Health Technology for migration of health colleges to award ND/HND and for elevating some to polytechnic of health status.

Katsina Youth Craft Village awarded Professor Bugaje award of excellence for visionary leadership that has strengthened the TVET ecosystem and promoted skills development as a pathway for national growth.

WorldSkillsr International Admission & SASASNET HQ recognized him as a Champion of Skills and Icon of Skill development in Africa. He also has the recognition of Commonwealth of Learning for partnership on skills and program development. Panteka Market awarded Prof. Bugaje as the father of skills in the field of TVET.

These awards are not plaques on a wall. They are evidence that the market, government, and global community see NBTE under Bugaje as the engine room of Nigeria’s skills revolution and youth development.

In 2024, Bugaje made headlines when he said “Degrees will lose relevance in the next 15 years.” He was not anti-education. He was pro-competitive because the 21st Century criteria of employment is, “What can you do practically? 

The Renewed Hope Agenda places skills at the center of job creation. With Bugaje leading NBTE, that agenda now has a driver. We are celebrating  Prof. Because of his commitment and achievements recorded in the development of skills in Nigeria and beyond because “a nation that invests in skills invests in its future” and Professor Idris M. Bugaje prepared Nigerian youths for the future.

Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim, Goronyo writes from Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna.