Minister of Transportation, Sambo bans foreign training for staff, says NIIT capable

By Ogaga Ariemu

The Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo, said his ministry would not approve any foreign training except the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology(NITT) does not offer such a programme.

The Minister stated this in his remarks when he visited NITT headquarters in Zaria on Thursday.

Sambo challenged NITT to redesign its programmes in line with global standards.

“NITT should also upgrade its curricula following global best practices and affiliate with other schools towards increasing the knowledge base of lecturers”, the Minister added.

“Madam, permanent secretary, when you forward any request to me for training abroad, such request will not be granted unless an institute like this cannot provide such training.

“There is no need to spend such scarce resources on training that NIIT can provide.

“I will not approve any foreign training if I know that such training is available in Nigeria and more so in the NITT,” he said.

Earlier, the Director General/CEO of NIIT, Dr Bayero Farah, called for federal government interventions on the budgetary challenges.

“May I stress that the Institute has some challenges, namely, budgetary constraints and the need to strengthen our legal Instruments to keep pace with the current realities in the industry and play the leading role in driving research, training and technology innovation in the industry amongst other challenges”.

He added that “the Institute is currently facing a shortage of land at its Headquarters in Zaria. The 27-hectare land space currently housing the Institute is used up, thus making it challenging for expansion”.