By Sani Idris
A subsidiary of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), International Limited, and
the Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) on promoting skills and apprenticeship.
This was contained in a statement issued to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) by the NBTE’s Head of Media Unit, Mrs Fatimah Abubakar, on Thursday in Kaduna.
Abubakar explained that the MoU was also to promote, standardise, coordinate, and support the skills and apprenticeship agenda in member countries at the the headquarters of SASASNET.
She equally said it was aimed at fostering collaboration between NSDC International and SASASNET to promote, standardise, coordinate, and support the skills and apprenticeship agenda in member countries.
She stated that the partnership signified a milestone in advancing skills development and narrowing the existing skill gap across sectors in the Sub- Saharan African region.
Abubakar added that the
MoU outlined areas of cooperation to include; Strengthening Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in SASASNET member countries, knowledge support for setting up new SSCs and sharing effective skills and lifelong learning strategies.
Others include; developing the skilling landscape, induding policy interventions and work-based learning, developing a strong industry interface through sectoral skill gap analysis, developing sector-specific occupational standards and digitization of TVET systems and processes.
Others also included setting up the skill authority, skills for mutually beneficial migration, innovation in the skiling ecosystem and facilitating partnerships with stakeholders in member countries.
The Media Unit Head however, said the MoU does not constitute a legally binding agreement, but reflects the intentions of the parties to cooperate on ad-hoc projects and initiatives.
She said definitive agreements would follow the execution of the MoU.
She added that the MoU, which was signed virtually has in attendance the Chief Executive Officer of NSDC, Chairman and Secretary General of SASASNET and
exco members as well as International Local Organisations representatives who participated.
NAN reports that the NSDC International Limited, was established to fulfill the growing need for skilled manpower across sectors and narrow the existng skill gap between demand and supply of skills, while SASASNET is a continenal organisation established to promote, standardise, coordinate, and support the skills and apprentceship agenda in member countries.(NAN)