Nigeria's Federal Government is deliberately moving away from overreliance on paper qualifications and redirecting focus toward practical skills acquisition, the Registrar of the National Business and Technical Examinations Board, Dr Mohammed Aminu Mohammed, has said.

Mohammed made the remarks on Monday while speaking with journalists after monitoring the 2026 NABTEB NBC/NTC examinations at the Government Technical College, Kano, where he also noted a significant rise in candidate registrations this year.

The registrar stated that the thrust of the current administration's approach was to convert graduates from job seekers into job creators. "The era we are moving into is one driven by skills, so that I do not need to depend on anybody to give me a job. There must be something I can do on my own to earn a living. That is where we are headed," he said.

Mohammed stressed that formal academic credentials were no longer the sole measure of economic productivity. "You do not need to be a professor or a doctor before you can earn a living. You do not even need to be a journalist before you can make a living because there are other legitimate ways to earn an income. Once you have a skill, you become self-reliant, you can employ others, and, where necessary, you can also be employed. We are trying to reduce the excessive emphasis on paper qualifications," he added.

On examination figures, Mohammed disclosed that candidate registrations had risen from 92,260 nationwide in the previous year to more than 100,000 in 2026. "There is a huge improvement compared to what we have had over the years. Students are becoming more interested in technical subjects, knowing fully well that there is no shortcut to economic development," he noted.

The registrar also pointed to a visible shift in parental attitudes toward technical education, with more families now actively enrolling children in technical schools. He attributed this partly to government policy changes that had altered certain parental responsibilities.

The 2026 NABTEB May/June NBC/NTC examinations commenced nationwide on 15 June 2026 and are scheduled to conclude on 13 July 2026. Mohammed is currently on a nationwide monitoring tour of examination centres.