By Stellamaries Amuwa
Dr. Ali Nuhu, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) has tasked creative sector stakeholders to develop national occupational standards that will support skills and competence development for Nigeria’s orange economy.
Dr. Nuhu, in his address delivered at the opening ceremony of the three-day national occupational standards critique and validation workshop for creative media trades, told participants, which included training institutions, creative industry experts, as well as film stakeholders, that the workshop was not only timely, but a necessary step towards shaping the present and future of Nigeria’s creative media ecosystem.
The workshop, themed “Setting National Standards-Empowering Global Creativity”, took place at the National Headquarters of the Nigerian television Authority (NTA), Abuja from Thursday, July 23, to Saturday July 25, 2026.
For too long, Nigeria’s creative media sector has been driven by both formal and informal structures, Nuhu said; with lingering challenges of identifying, harnessing, certifying and mainstreaming talents, skills and competencies acquired outside the traditional educational system into Nigeria’s employment and labour market ecosystem. The national workshop therefore, he averred, “represents a major milestone for Nigeria’s creative media sector in terms of labour market development initiatives”.
Nuhu commended the Creative Media Sector Skills Council (CMSSC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for organizing the workshop, which is a prerequisite and the first step for the emplacement of a national occupational standards curricula to be used in all certified Technical and Vocational Educational Training (TVET) centers nationwide, when adopted. Federal government, agencies, departments, critical stakeholders and partners, have demonstrated unreserved commitments and shown dogged resilience, with the successful mounting of the workshop, with “the destination, surely closer than before” he further said.
Persons with skills and competences acquired from outside the formal education system as prescribed within the National Skills Qualification Framework, will, if they so desire, undergo special NOS certified training programmes, and be primed for decent domestic and international job placements, fair remuneration, further career progression; and academic advancement
