ITF Equipped Over 14m Nigerians in 45 years

By Amos Dunia
The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has, in its 45 years of existence, equipped over 14 million Nigerians with employable and entrepreneurial skills, the Director-General of the Fund, Sir Joseph Ari has said.
This is just as the Director General expressed gratitude for the encouragement and confidence reposed on the management and staff of the Fund by President Muhammadu Buhari and the two Ministers of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment which propelled the ITF to set higher goals and achievements within a short period of time.
Sir Ari, who announced this in Abuja at a press conference, also said this is aside the managerial, supervisory and other capacity building programmes implemented for the public and private Sectors of the economy.
He further said that on assumption of duty as Director General of the ITF in September 2016, the management of the Fund in its quest to deliver on its mandate in line with the philosophy of the Federal Government especially with reference to key areas of fighting corruption, provision of adequate security for lives and property, job creation/reduction of youth unemployment infrastructural development including good health care delivery and entrepreneurial development innovation and creativity, set out strategies to reinvigorate and reposition the organization.
The Director General explained that the Fund is mindful of the fact that industrialized nations like Brazil, Singapore and China moved from developing to developed economies through harnessing their skilled manpower and less dependence on mono-economy, adding that empirical evidence from several skills gaps surveys has revealed that, despite soaring unemployment especially among the youth, vacancies still exist that are currently filled by persons other than Nigerians.
“The ITF is ready to provide dynamic and proactive services aimed at achieving her mandate in line with the current Federal Government’s agenda. It is against this backdrop that the Fund reviewed its vision and came up with policy and implementation strategies to enable her take a leading role in human capital development aimed at strengthening the Federal Government policy on diversification, industrialization and subsequently reposition the economy,” Ari said.
He explained that the ITF’s modus operandi at this precarious time would determine the impact it makes on the nation and for posterity and therefore stressed that in this wise, the Fund is seeking the cooperation and support of every stakeholder in skills development for job creation especially Agencies under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), the OPS, media and international collaborators in order to accomplish the set goals.
The ITF Director General also announced that part of the Fund long term goals include the establishment of one Automotive Parts Production and Training Centres, facilitate Automotive part import substitution, develop requisite skills in Automotive spare parts production and encourage local production of automotive spare parts.
He said the ITF intends to leverage on its three Es which are – Expanse presence in every state of the Federation, including Abuja ,with 33 Area Offices and 5 ISTCs. It also includes expertise of over 2,000 staff with specialization in various disciplines and experience of over 45 years, among other goals.