Pharmaceutical Technology Students Protest Alleged Disobedience of Court Order by NBTE

Pharmaceutical Technology students across Nigeria have raised concerns over what they described as the alleged disobedience of a court order by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

The students, under the aegis of concerned Pharmaceutical Technology students from polytechnics and colleges of health technology, made the allegation in a statement issued after a meeting held in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, on Friday, March 6.

In the statement, the group called on relevant authorities and well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Idris Bugaje, to stop what they described as persistent disobedience of a court order, warning that the situation could lead to a crisis among students of Pharmaceutical Technology in polytechnics and colleges of health technology across the country.

The students alleged that the board was compromising the standards of polytechnics and colleges of health technology while also disregarding a subsisting court order.

The group, led by Kabir Mohammad, accused the NBTE of disrespecting an order issued by Peter Odo Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which directed all parties in the case to maintain the status quo.

According to the students, the order was issued on August 16, 2024, in a suit filed by Abdulaziz Mohammad Bello and others, restraining the NBTE and other parties from taking further actions regarding a Memorandum of Understanding between the NBTE and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) on the discontinuation of the Pharmaceutical Technology programme at National Diploma and Higher National Diploma levels.

However, the students alleged that despite the pending case, the NBTE had continued to issue circulars to rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of health technology directing them to discontinue the programme in their institutions.
They specifically cited a circular dated March 2, 2026, with reference number TEB/PRO/M.221/GCOR/VOL.II/188, signed by Pharmacist Ibrahim Salihu, Director of Nursing and Health Science Programmes at the board.

The students warned that they would explore all legal means to resist any attempt to violate the court order by the board or its representatives.

They also alleged that two similar circulars previously signed by Bugaje indicated the board’s disregard for the court’s pronouncement on the matter.

Efforts to reach the Executive Secretary of the NBTE and the Minister of Education, who are parties to the suit, were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report, as they did not respond to calls placed by the correspondent.