…validates 35 NOS

By Joseph Erunke, Abuja

The Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria,CPN and the National Board for Technical Education,NBTE, have collaborated to address the digital skills gap in the country.

Speaking variously yesterday in Abuja,during a workshop held to validate 35 National Occupational Standards,NOS, representatives of both organisations reeled out measures to be adopted to reset Nigeria’s Information and Communication Technology, ICT education.

The Registrar/Secretary of Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria, Mr. Muhammed Bello Aliyu, speaking at the event, explained that the CPN has been granted the status of awarding body by the NBTE for all Information and Communication Technology related skills under the Nigerian Skills Qualification Framework,NSQF.

Aliyu said that candidates who would be trained using these National Occupational Standards will be able to work, to develop the local economy, and be available to outsourced opportunities.

Noting that the council understands the importance of stakeholders in the IT ecosystem for the validation exercise, he appreciated participants for creating time to attend the workshop despite the short notice.

“Information Technology is a dynamic profession, innovations and developments is taking place daily globally, this necessitated our foray into studying the current National Occupational Standards ,NOS in ICT to ensure it is in line with current trend in IT practice.

“As the awarding body, we are here with the sector state council and also the regulators, the Nigeria Board for Technical Education,NBTE, through the royal blessing of our Executive Secretary, that we find time now to validate all 35, which is one of the most amazing moments because we have 35 different NOS that we are validating today.

“What we intend to achieve is to address the digital skills gap in the country. On these particular skills that we are trying to validate, the standard upon which every other will now be based will output the general standards for digital skills training in the country.

“So, with that particular aspect and having been given the opportunity to be the awarding body for ICT, we have a sector skill council in Nigeria. Under that, we were able to start with the NBTE. NBTE relates to matters concerning polytechnics in Nigeria.

“We are happy for the fact that setting IT educational standards is one of our co-mandates. And we are also part of the Ministry of Education, which gives us an advantage in ensuring that each sector you are calling, like universities, colleges of education, and so on, is reached. By this validation, we are going to have a standard that is globally accepted, which can be used for all the digital skills that are needed in the country,” he explained.

On his part, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Mohammad Bugaje, represented by Dr. Musa Hatim Koko, Director of Curriculum, NBTE, commended the registrar of the Council for providing the platform for this wonderful initiative.

Data protection and privacy, he said, require nothing less than 500 experts.

Giving an overview of the new NOS for ICT, the Head of Business Development at CPN, Mr. Benjamin Prince, said the council is open to collaboration to build the sector.