Skills Council ratifies harmonisation of NABTE, ITF Mandates

…As Shettima demands alignment of the national training infrastructure with industry needs

The National Council on Skills (NCS) has ratified the alignment of the mandates of the Nigeria Board for Technical Education (NABTE) and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to support the industrialisation agenda of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

The council also adopted the National Skills Observatory platform as the foundation for evidence-based policymaking in Nigeria.

Following the ratification, the NCS has also set up a committee to review the policy recommendations on the alignment of Nigeria’s national interests on skills development and industrialisation.

Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice President, said the decisions were the main highlights of the 9th meeting of the National Council on Nutrition chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja.

Shettima emphasised the need to align national training infrastructure with industry needs, ratifying the new mandate that aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Speaking during an interaction with journalists shortly after the meeting, Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, said the focus of the 9th National Skills Council meeting was in furtherance to the mandate of President Tinubu to give more job opportunities to young Nigerians across different sectors of the economy.

He said the National Council on Skills, chaired by Vice President Shettima under the current administration, is reinvigorated and primed to achieve greater results in the interest of the teeming Nigerian youths.

The minister said the 9th meeting of the council focused more on achieving and streamlining the national skills qualification framework, as well as how the awarding bodies and the sectoral skills council will work.

He added that the meeting also discussed the partnership between the Aliko Dangote Skills Acquisition Centre, Kano and the Kano State government to finalise the eventual takeover of the centre by the Aliko Dangote Foundation.

For his part, John Enoh, Minister of State for Industry, said the federal government is making concerted efforts to achieve industrialisation by reinvigorating the skills sector, which he said must be developed through the provision of vocational and related training in specific skill sets for young Nigerians.

The Minister also noted that the special skills programme introduced by the Tinubu administration is very important, particularly as Nigeria pushes towards industrialisation.

In the same vein, Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State described the national skills programme as one of the best things that has ever happened to the nation.

He also outlined the programmes currently being implemented in Jigawa State in the skills sector, even as he commended the administration of President Tinubu for creating the enabling environment for sub-nationals to create opportunities for young Nigerians across different sectors.
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