The National Skills Qualifications (NSQ) members have been challenged by experts in the building sector to improve their capacity and skills so as to deliver quality services to the populace.
The chairman, Artisans and Craftsmen Qualifications Awarding Board, Christopher Belonwu, gave the charge at the 2024 continuous professional development workshop for NSQ practitioners organised by the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) held in Owerri, the capital of Imo State.
He highlighted that this is very important as every client expects commensurate services for every money invested in a building project and advised practitioners to live up to expectation.
Belonwu stressed that when imbibed, 80 per cent incidences of structural deficiency would be a thing of the past and called on them to focus on accountable, vision driven training that falls in line with world’s best practice.
Speaking on the theme: “The Changing Landscape in Skills Training – Playing Effective Roles in NSQ Delivery “, Belonwu, a professional builder, said that the workshop was aimed at plugging the observed practice gaps and guiding practitioners on how to get it right to meet the expected practice.
He revealed that the workshop was intended to guide centre managers and instructors on best practices to be adopted in operating and working at their centres to support trainees to acquire the needed qualifications.
The professional builder highlighted the importance of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) in maintaining standards and how to align the centre curriculum to the standards so as to support learners to gather needed evidence in line with the NOS.
“We recognise the role of external quality assurance managers as gatekeepers at centres and the untapped opportunities in the formalising of the informal sector through recognition of prior learning for centre registration, monitoring, auditing and external verification.
“Quality assurance assessors play a unique role in supporting the learner to gather the needed evidence in line with the National Occupational Standards (NOS) to address blur areas in tracking and cross-referencing of evidence to the standards.”
Speaking, president, Nigerian Institute of Building, Alderton Ewa said the workshop would provide an invaluable platform for continuous knowledge sharing, professional development, and collaboration among NSQ practitioners.
He charged the participants not to relent in their resolve to periodically improve their skills for relevance in their chosen fields while establishing a clear framework for recognising skills and knowledge, regardless of the learning pathway, to ensure quality assurance and provide a path for career progression.
“The NIOB, in collaboration with the government and other stakeholders, will continue to play a pivotal role in strengthening NSQ.
“We are proud to have developed the first NOS for the construction industry, which serves as a national standard for construction work and have also actively participated in the assessment and certification of artisans under programmes such as the Mafita and the N-Power Build project “, he said.
In his comment, Imo State Chairman of the (NIOB) Andy Osuagwu, said that the compulsory NSQ training is tailored towards learning, upgrading, assessment and certification where participants are assessed on individual and group levels about the challenges, needs and experiences of demanding jobs.
One of the participants, a quality assurance assessor, Hannah Kenneth said the programme was an eye opener for her not to compromise standards while observing and supervising an Artisan’s work so as to checkmate quackery in line with international best practices.
