Unemployment: FG Launches Skill Qualification Framework

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

‎In its quest to tackle the problem of unemployment in the country, the federal government has launched the Nigerian Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) ‎and has called on the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to provide a model for ensuring quality assurance and standardisation in the education sector.

These bodies are responsible for developing standards for qualifications and quality assurance for the awards of certificates for qualified and competent candidates in various professions.

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who launched the framework in Abuja, said the era when expatriates were engaged to do almost all skilled labour was over.

He called on the NBTE to begin to look into quality, classification, brand and provide a model for ensuring quality assurance and standardisation.

“It is this skill gap that has helped make Nigerian graduates non-competitive in the global marketplace and in order to progress, Nigerians must produce the workforce that is skilled, efficient, highly mobile, adaptable and innovative.

“It is the desire of this administration to produce craftsmen, master craftsmen, technicians, technologists and professionals who do not only possess the required skills and competence, but also thoroughly know and have understanding of the complexities of the scientific and technological world.”

Adamu said in institutionalizing the skills qualifications framework, the ministry would prepare and pass the necessary legal framework to the Federal Executive Council for onward transmission to the National Assembly for enactment into law.