Digital Skills: Council Targets 1.5m Nigerians in 2025
Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) in its skills qualification framework has revealed that it has targeted 1.5 million Nigerians for digital skills in the year 2025.
It said it would achieve this through partnerships and collaborations with reputable organisations with high impact on information technology, new digital skills development centres, and the provision of support to accredited digital skills training centres.
It added that betting the targeted number for digital skills, the three-day workshop aims to validate the newly developed National Occupational Standards which will enable the creation of new digital skills under the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework to be awarded by the Council.
Speaking in Abuja at the opening ceremony of CPN’s Validation Workshop of National Occupational Standards in ICT, the Registrar of the council, Mr. Muhammed Bello Aliyu, said the new standards were developed to provide competencies in over 35 digital skills areas.
He noted that the framework aims at promoting lifelong learning which is necessary to enhance employability and provide quality assurance and recognition that qualifications are relevant to perceived social and economic needs.
He added that the Council is setting the pace for a national digital transformation and providing support for innovation and digital economy through education and has taken the burden of bridging the gap created by the unavailability of qualitative technical and vocational education.
According to him, “Our desire as the awarding body for NSQ-ICT is to ensure that 1.5 million Nigerians acquire digital skills in 2025. This will be achieved through partnerships and collaborations.
“The Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework is a system for the development, classification, and recognition of skills, knowledge, understanding, and competencies acquired by individuals, irrespective of where and how the training or skill was acquired.”
He said it is hoped that candidates who will be trained using the National Occupational Standards will be able to work and develop the local economy as well as be able to outsource opportunities.
