FG Unveils New Technical Standards for Auto Engineers

• FG Unveils New Technical Standards for Auto Engineers

The Federal Government on Thursday unveiled the new National Occupational Standard to drive the development of the auto industry.

The document, which was launched in Abuja by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Aisha Abubakar, contains the curriculum for the development of technical skills of auto engineers.

The framework, which was put together by technocrats in the sector, is in line with international best practices.

It has five educational levels with a total of 65 skill acquisition categories in different fields of automotive engineering.

Abubakar described it as a game changer for the automotive sector.

She said the development of the NOS was aimed at enthroning competency-based technical vocational training in Nigeria.

The minister said the unveiling of the framework was borne out of the conviction that it would help improve the technical capacity of auto engineers as well as boost their job creation potential.

The Director-General, National Automotive Design and Development Council, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, said when fully operational, the framework would boost the competences of out-of-school children, working adults, graduates and apprentices at both the formal and informal sectors.

He said the framework was designed for the development, classification and recognition of skills, knowledge and competencies acquired by individuals irrespective of where and how the skills were acquired.

Aliyu added, “It gives a clear statement of what the learner must know or be able to do, whether the learning took place in a classroom, on-the-job or less formally.

“The classification of the standards was done with a view to making them fit into the already approved National Vocational Qualification Framework and for ease of implementation.

“All the efforts by the council are solely to drive the auto sector to its well-deserved position globally.”