Thousands of prospective students seeking admission into the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) have been thrown into uncertainty following the Federal Government’s cancellation of all its NCE and degree admissions for the 2026 academic session.
The government also ordered the Kaduna-based institution to discontinue all university affiliations and degree-awarding arrangements, declaring that it lacked the authority to award NCE and university degrees.
The decision was announced on Saturday by the Federal Ministry of Education, which cited regulatory violations involving admissions, accreditation and university affiliations.
In a statement issued by its Director of Press and Public Relations, Boriowo Folasade, the ministry warned prospective students, parents and guardians against applying for the affected programmes or making payments to the institute.
The cancellation covers full-time, part-time and Distance Learning Studies (DLS) programmes.
The ministry said the action followed violations of the Ministerial Operational Guidelines issued on September 12, 2025.
It explained that NCE admissions must comply with the requirements of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and accreditation standards of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).
The government also directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) to notify universities affiliated with NTI and ensure that the order discontinuing its degree-awarding arrangements was implemented.
However, the intervention has raised concerns about the fate of students already enrolled in existing programmes.
To address this, the ministry said the NCCE would undertake a comprehensive accreditation exercise covering existing NCE II–IV Distance Learning programmes and study centres across the six geopolitical zones.
Students found eligible would be allowed to complete their programmes, subject to accreditation results and other regulatory requirements.
The ministry stressed that the exercise was intended to protect students who enrolled in good faith while ensuring that academic standards were not compromised.
It further clarified that NTI’s statutory mandate remained focused on teacher training, retraining, professional development and pedagogical capacity-building.
The institute is also expected to provide a three-to-six-month Special Abridged Programme for serving teachers with non-Education degrees to acquire the professional competencies required for registration with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
The Federal Government urged Nigerians to verify the accreditation and admission status of institutions and academic programmes with relevant regulatory agencies before seeking admission or making payments.