The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has unveiled the new levels 2 and 3 National Occupational Standards for call centre operations.
During the event, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Professor Idris Bugaje, explained that the telecommunications market was fast-growing with a high demand for labour, and there was the need to build the capacity of youths with the relevant competencies to enhance their employability.
Professor Bugaje urged the Minister of Education to include the new occupational standards in the national training framework to fast-track its adoption nationwide.
“We are appealing to the Minister to accommodate it within the 25 approved occupation standards for training because we feel this is important for our youths, and it’s going to really open a lot of opportunities for them to get jobs in Nigeria while they are still staying in Nigeria. Customer services for big players around the world – you have to get training certification on call center operations,” he said
He stressed that with the new TVET initiative, it was necessary to publicly develop and present the standards to gain support from training centres for a successful rollout.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Mrs Freda Bruce-Benneth, welcomed the initiative and promised that the Commission would support the Board in its implementation.
We are willing to cooperate with the NBTE to ensure that there is knowledge transfer. If it means some collaboration where we can get the operators to give you some ideas and guidance on how to enhance and perfect this,” she said.
The Technical Assistant to the Minister of Education on TVET and STEM, Dr. Nabila Mohammed, reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to rolling out the initiative.
