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.
The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) and the National Film Institute (NFI), will continue to support and participate in the successful delivery of the objectives of the TVET initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria, because it aligns Nigeria’s vibrant youths to the development and growth of the creative media sector.
Delivering his workshop inaugural speech, the Executive Secretary of NBTE Professor Idris Bugaji, informed participants of the imperatives the workshop. According to him, employers and labour pinned training curriculum derived from validated national occupational standards remains one of the pathways to a faster and sustainable economic development of Nigeria. Alhaji Salihu Dembos, the Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA in his goodwill message expressed optimism that the outcome of the workshop will fast track Nigeria, joining the comity of nations in recognizing and certifying of persons with NOS based skills and competences.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Creative Media Sector Skills Council (CMSSC) Hajia Fatima Haliru, said that, the task of workshop participants included the critique, review and validation of forty (40) NOS curricula across vital trades within the creative media sector; including but not limited to film production, audio-production, content creation, digital photography, animation, digital graphics, broadcast, gamming and immersive technologies.
