ITF DG, Sir Ari Bags Occupational Health And Safety Association Award

BY CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS – A United Kingdom based Organisation, the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSH Association), UK, has bestowed an Honorary Fellowship Award of the Association on the Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph N. Ari.

The Association during the presentation ceremony of the Award in the United Kingdom recently, said it was in appreciation of the Director General’s invaluable contributions to entrenching occupational health and safety in the Fund, and ensuring that all contributing employers adhere to occupational health and safety standards.

In his acceptance speech, the ITF DG, Sir Joseph N. Ari, expressed delight and appreciated the Association for the award, noting that as the foremost human capacity development organisation in Nigeria, the Fund is charged with the responsibility of setting and maintaining training standards in all sectors of the economy, and monitor adherence among other responsibilities.

He further said; “In the discharge of our mandate, the ITF has over the years implemented several training programmes in occupational health and safety for both staff of the Fund and our stakeholders. It was in recognition of the important place of occupational health and safety in organisations that the ITF made it a key criterion for granting training reimbursement to contributing employers.

“This is aimed at encouraging employers of labour to carry out safety training and adhere to safety protocols in their various organisations.

“I feel greatly delighted and honoured”, he continued, “to have been conferred with the award of an Honorary Fellow of this great Association. This is not only a rare privilege but an encouragement to do more,” he said.

Ari, who noted that the Year 2022 is a good year for the ITF in terms of awards received and the achievements that have been recorded despite the difficult operational environment, said that the Fund is committed more than ever before to the full actualisation of its mandate for overall economic and industrial growth of Nigeria in line with the vision of the Federal Government.

Earlier in the year, the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) presented the ITF DG with an Award of Excellence for Exceptional Contribution to Human Resource Development.

Similarly, the Business Education and Examinations Council (BEEC) also presented the DG an award for Excellence in Youths Empowerment through training.

The records also indicate that the DG also received the Leadership Newspaper Public Service Person of the Year Award for 2022, the Award for Manpower Training in the Extractive Sector on the Plateau by the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Association, Honorary Fellow Award by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), and the Award of Excellence in Human Capacity Development by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).