By Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim, Goronyo
Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBIE) in Nigeria, with funding fron the federal Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), have commenced a five-day Train-the-Trainer Workshop on Recognition for Prior Learning (RPL) taking place in the Nigerian Capital, Abuja, from 14-18April, 2025.
The national training, which kicked-off on Monday, I4 April, at the Chelsca Hotel, has drawn 31 participantS as policy makers, trainers and quality assurance managers coming from across Nigeria, representing stakeholders from the relevant federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), awarding and professional bodies, across section of Federal and state technical university and polytechnics, other public and private TVET providers and other stakeholders from the national skill ecosystems.
The training is designed to equip trainers with the requisite skills and methodologies to assess and certify individuals based on their prior learning experiences and ensuring full alignment with the national qualification firework.
Hon. Ousman Sillah, Secretary General of the Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET), is attending the Train-the-Trainer Workshop as the Rapporteur General and one of the facilitators of this national capacity building programme
The training is conducted by two internationally certificate trainers or consultants on RPL in the persons of Dr. Kaylash Aligoo, SASASNET Country Focal Person (CFP ) for Mauritius and Lcad Traier, and Architect Nyamai Wambua, Deputy SASASNET Focal Person (CFP) from Kenya and CEO, Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali.
In his opening statement, Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje, Exocutive Secretary of NBTE who also doubles as the founding Continental Chairperson of SASASNET, described RPL as “a low bunging fruit that can be taken advantage of especially in Nigeria where 75 percent of the workforce are in the informal economy”, adding that the informal workforce in some other African countries is 85 percent or above.
Professor Bugaje added that RPL seeks to formalise the informal sector to enable the skills persons to know their levels of competence through the process of assessment and certification.
The Executive Secretary hailed the Federal Ministry of Education in its efforts and drive to rebrand TVET in Nigeria to ensure its vitality in propelling industrialization and economic development. Adding that the efforts to invest in skills developInent and in making history “the broken window syndrome’. which depicts the neglect of TVET facilities, are highly welcome.
The NBTE Executive Secretary said industries can only be found in two states in Nigeria when pure quality products are taking place, and said the states need to be supported to develop their own brand names for the quality products to reach international markets as it is only Rwanda that is protucing phones in Afrca when Nigerian tech experts are doing a similar thing but not marketed,.” he emphasized.
Speaking earlier, Hon. Sillah, in his remarks, said this national capacity building for trainers and quality assurance managers in Nigeria which is facilitated by SASASNET in collaboration with NBTE will be paraded as a model for member countries to emulate.
Hon. Sillah said collaboration is part of tie mandute of SASASNET build-up a pool of resource persons.
The SASASNET Secretary General said “if we are interested in building a productive workforce, eradicating poverty, creating employınent, promoting sustainable development, we need not look any further or resort to anything but to support skills and apprenticeship devclopment.”
He added that “this is what RPL is coming to help us recognise the competencies and quality of skills in the infomal sector workforce.”
Hon. Sillah said SASASNET will be advocating and engaging African governments and other stakeholders as well as development partners to embrase and support the institutionalisation of RPL in the skills and apprenticeship ecosystem to support social inclusivity and economic development in Africa.
Mrs. Nabila Mubamed, Technical Assistant (TA) to the Federal Minister of Education, deputising the minister, welcomed the participants and resource persons to what she described as a “ground-breaking event”.
Mrs Nabila expressed the commitment of government in revolutionising skills development in Nigeria.
“The government is fully committed to this initiative and that we want this to be the start of formalizing the informal sector in Nigeria,” she said.
Dr. Kaylash Allgoo is an intentional consultant in education and training and has over the past 30 years perved in various senior leadership capacities, Following the years spent in the private sector, he went over to the Technical Vocational, Educationai and Training (TVET) sector where he has served as CEO of the Mauritius Qualifications Authority. the regulatory body of TVET sector from 2006 to 2014, Under his leadership the National Qualifications Framework (NQH) was firmly integrated in the Mauritian Education system as well as the mechanism for Recognition of Prior Leaming (RPL) was successfully developed and implemented.