Nigeria’s Tourism Industry Embraces Skills Development For A Brighter Future, Here’s All You Need To Know

Published on October 5, 2025

It intends to person a qualified workforce that tin meet nan demands of nan increasing tourism sector. The caller model moves distant from nan traditional, informal apprenticeship methods to a much formal, system attack to skills development. The NSQF will attraction much connected equipping nan young workforce successful nan tourism, hospitality, and related sectors pinch nan skills that will beryllium much impactful for nan manufacture successful nan accelerated world economy. This will effect younker unemployment and societal unrest successful nan state and connected nan global. This will besides amended nan competitiveness of nan tourism manufacture successful Nigeria.

The Importance of Skills Development successful Nigeria’s Tourism Sector

The tourism manufacture is an basal constituent of Nigeria’s economy, offering immense opportunities for occupation creation and economical growth. However, to afloat unlock nan imaginable of this sector, stakeholders admit nan request for a skilled workforce tin of gathering some section and world tourism demands. As nan state continues to push for diversification beyond oil, nan tourism and hospitality sectors are being positioned arsenic cardinal drivers of economical growth, particularly successful nan look of challenges specified arsenic unemployment and insecurity.

Dr. Abisoye Fagade, Director-General of nan National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), has been a beardown proponent of nan domiciled that skills improvement plays successful advancing nan industry. He believes that equipping Nigerians pinch nan correct competencies, peculiarly successful travel, tourism, and hospitality, will lend to reducing societal vices, enhancing nationalist security, and fostering semipermanent prosperity.

The National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF): A Step Towards Sustainable Tourism Development

The NSQF is simply a strategy designed to standardize skills training and qualifications crossed various industries, pinch a peculiar attraction connected enhancing employability and fostering workforce development. The model is built upon National Occupational Standards (NOS), which intelligibly outline nan circumstantial competencies required for various occupation roles successful nan tourism sector. These standards are captious successful ensuring that training programs align pinch manufacture needs, yet starring to nan accumulation of a competent and competitory workforce.

In a important move to merge skills training into nan nationalist workforce, nan Nigerian authorities approved nan inclusion of National Skills Qualifications (NSQ) Levels 1–6 into nan Scheme of Service crossed nationalist work sectors. This argumentation ensures that individuals pinch vocational qualifications astatine these levels are recognized arsenic employable and eligible for placement connected due net scales, reinforcing nan worth of applicable skills complete world qualifications alone.

NIHOTOUR’s Role successful Professionalizing nan Tourism Sector

Dr. Fagade’s activity astatine NIHOTOUR has been instrumental successful championing nan NSQF wrong nan tourism sector. As nan nationalist Sector Skills Council (SSC) for tourism, NIHOTOUR is committed to bridging nan spread betwixt manufacture requirements and training offerings. The statement is focused connected professionalizing nan tourism and hospitality industry, ensuring that workers are equipped pinch nan basal skills to meet nan demands of some home and world markets.

Since its constitution successful 2015, nan Hospitality and Tourism Sector Skills Council of Nigeria (HTSSON), coordinated by NIHOTOUR, has been moving intimately pinch employers, training providers, and different stakeholders to place skills gaps and develop, validate, and instrumentality nan NOS for various roles wrong nan sector. This collaborative effort is cardinal to driving workforce improvement and improving nan value of services successful Nigeria’s tourism and hospitality industries.

Identifying Key Skill Areas and Developing National Occupational Standards (NOS)

A cardinal facet of nan NSQF implementation is nan improvement of National Occupational Standards (NOS) for various sectors wrong nan tourism and hospitality industries. These standards service arsenic a benchmark for nan skills and knowledge required to execute circumstantial occupation functions. Dr. Fagade disclosed that 12 cardinal areas wrong nan tourism assemblage person been identified and their NOS developed and approved by nan National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). These areas include:

• Airport and Passenger Service Operations
• Event Handling Operations
• Food Preparation, Packaging, and Dispatch
• Food and Beverage Production and Service
• Food Safety Services
• Front Office Operations
• Housekeeping Operations
• Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Operations
• Tour Operations and Travel Agency Operations
• Travel and Tourism Advisory Services

These skills are basal to ensuring that nan tourism assemblage successful Nigeria tin cater to some nan demands of section travelers and nan expectations of world tourists. By equipping workers pinch these skills, Nigeria tin heighten its work value and compete much efficaciously connected nan world tourism stage.

The Role of Awarding Bodies and Quality Assurance successful Skills Development

For nan NSQF to beryllium genuinely effective, it requires beardown oversight from nan designated Awarding Bodies (ABs), which are responsible for ensuring that training institutions meet nan standards group by nan National Occupational Standards. These bodies are tasked pinch maintaining nan credibility and relevance of nan qualifications issued to workers successful nan tourism sector. Beyond issuing certificates, ABs play a captious domiciled successful enforcing value assurance crossed training institutions, ensuring that nan qualifications awarded are recognized and respected wrong nan industry.

To heighten nan effectiveness of nan NSQF, Dr. Fagade emphasized nan value of organization support, continuous capacity building, and progressive manufacture engagement. The Sector Skills Council (SSC) must beryllium supported by beardown linkages pinch manufacture stakeholders, ensuring that training programs are aligned pinch nan latest manufacture trends and that nan workforce is equipped pinch up-to-date knowledge and skills.

Strengthening nan Sector for National Development

The occurrence of nan NSQF successful Nigeria’s tourism assemblage depends connected nan corporate work of each stakeholders, including authorities bodies, acquisition institutions, and nan backstage sector. The Nigerian government’s committedness to skills improvement is evident successful nan policies that admit vocational qualifications arsenic valuable assets successful nan nationalist service. However, nan continuous finance successful capacity building, effective argumentation advocacy, and rigorous monitoring is basal to guarantee nan sector’s semipermanent success.

A skilled workforce is basal not only for tourism and hospitality but besides for addressing broader nationalist issues specified arsenic unemployment, poverty, and societal instability. By investing successful skills development, Nigeria tin create a workforce that is adaptable, tin of gathering nan demands of nan world economy, and fresh to lend to nationalist development.

The Path Forward: Building a Stronger, More Competitive Tourism Industry

Looking to nan future, analysts foretell that nan tourism sector, pinch nan support of a skilled workforce, will go 1 of Nigeria’s astir important economical drivers. By professionalizing nan assemblage and implementing industry-wide skills standards, Nigeria tin expect to spot improvements successful work delivery, accrued tourism arrivals, and enhanced world competitiveness. This attack will not only reside unemployment but besides supply young group pinch meaningful profession opportunities, trim societal challenges, and lend to nan country’s wide economical prosperity.

Dr. Fagade’s telephone for sustained finance successful skills improvement aligns pinch nan broader extremity of achieving nationalist improvement and boosting Nigeria’s competitiveness connected nan world tourism stage. The way to a much prosperous early lies successful a well-trained, entrepreneurial workforce that is equipped to meet nan evolving needs of nan world tourism and hospitality industries.

A Strategic Investment for nan Future of Nigeria’s Tourism Sector

Integrating nan National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) into Nigeria’s tourism and hospitality sectors is simply a caller opening successful pursuing sustainable maturation and development. Developing a competent and elastic workforce will alteration nan state to go a apical competitor successful world tourism. The professionalization of nan assemblage will assistance successful solving unemployment issues and improving nationalist information and economical diversification. Support from stakeholders and robust argumentation Action will assistance pinch these initiatives.