ITF: A Fund And Some Potpourri
BY CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS
With the annual performance review meeting opened on Monday, March 5, at the Fund’s Centre for Excellence, Bukuru, Jos, it was certain that some stock taking was afoot, including varieties and spices, which will culminate in merit awards and honours ceremony, attracting the
minister of state, ministry of industry, trade, and investment, and Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State.
Providing a forebear and preface to the potpourri that was to occasion the outing, director, corporate planning, ITF, Peter Agbo, in his welcome address, commended the DG, Joseph Ari, for approving the department’s recommendations for the conduct of the event, especially
because it creates “a platform where activities of the Fund for the preceding year are highlighted and appraised”.
Noting that the objective is to “re-strategize and reposition”, Agbo harped that “the ITF must as a necessity continue to ensure that its activities and responsibilities to our clients, and, government policy direction are clearly defined and accomplished to enhance competitiveness”.
Correspondingly, the Director General of the ITF, Joseph Ari, in his welcome address to the performance review meeting, said the event “is one of the most important activities on the ITF annual calendar”.
“This event is a very important and cardinal feature of our
activities. It is important because it provides an opportunity for us to collectively take stock of activities in the preceding year, subject our approaches to intense and unsparing scrutiny, while projecting and strategizing for optimal result in the succeeding year”, Ari emphasized.
Embossing the significance of the review mechanism further, Ari maintained that “the annual review is not a jamboree or mere talk shop, but a serious event that has had fundamental impact on the way we approach our business as a corporate entity”, hoping that the 2017
performance review will come with value addition, and surpass earlier ones in perspective and utility.
Citing the Vision of the ITF, which is “To be the foremost skills training development organisation in Nigeria and one of the best in the world”, the DG admitted to the effect that “when the Vision statement is subjected to scrutiny, two things will stand out: our desire to be in the lead when it comes to skills training in Nigeria, and to be an organization to be reckoned with globally”. The extent to
which this foundational nexus of the Fund has been achieved, he said, will distinguish this performance review meeting, especially if it can opine on the way forward in case all has not been well.
Accordingly, the DG called on all to be frank and dispassionate in their contributions: “this review is an opportunity for us to bare our minds, be frank and honest in our contributions as we assess the journey so far. That is the only way the ITF will move forward”.
One sure way to move forward is to promote creativity, productivity, and shun or frown at mediocrity and indolence through honours and awards to encourage those who deserve them. No less was the admission
of the DG on the second day of the two-day corporate calendar event which concluding twilight was merit award ceremony.
According to the DG, “ceremonies such as we are holding are important features of the calendars of almost all corporate organisations as they provide the platforms for organisations to render in-depth accounts of how they
fared during the preceding year, and also celebrate and reward stakeholders and members of the work force whose collective and individual contributions were critical to whatever achievements were recorded”.
Given severe challenges from a shrinking economy to closure of production lines in some organisations, Ari said overcoming fiscal year 2017 actually calls for corporate celebration. He said in keeping with its statutory mandate, the Fund, during the period in reference, “paid a total of N6, 451, 365, 092 .56 as training reimbursement to 430 companies that met all criteria for such reimbursement”.
There were ground breaking strides in other areas like the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme, SIWES, where the Fund disbursed N1,194, 050,000 as students and supervisory allowances to 310 tertiary institutions; technical skills acquisition programmes, infrastructural
development, staff welfare and human capacity building, and image projection and enhanced corporate visibility.
These much the minister of state, ministry of industry, trade, and investment, Aisha Abubakar, acknowledged and commended in her address at the occasion. Congratulating the Management and staff of the ITF
“for this noble idea of gauging its performance annually”, she expressed gladness “that a very important and key parastatal under my ministry is doing a self-check on its performances with a view to articulating the success and mitigating future lapses in areas identified”.
Encouraging the larger society on the imperative of skills
acquisition, Hajiya Abubakar challenged and tasked the ITF to “do more and expand the trade and craft areas in order for the country to have a larger pool of artisans and skilled youths”.
“The ITF has done a lot in the areas of collaboration which has started yielding the necessary dividends. Such should be sustained and – if need be – be improved upon. This synergy is the order of the day globally as friendship and collaboration foster harmonious working relationship between and among organisations”, Hajiya Abubakar noted.
While the event witnessed awards and honours being bestowed on stake holders, staff, area offices, departments, and sections in the ITF bureaucratic structure, Plateau state governor, Simon Bako Lalong was
also honoured with the ITF award of Best Performing Governor, as the DG, ITF, said he was tracked by the ITF expert tracker and found overwhelmingly worthy of the award.
As part and spice of the potpourri, a trophy was presented to an in-house, ITF super star club, the Ari Rockets, on humbling its opponent of no less star-studded talents in a pulsating football encounter that saw the Ari boys soaring into infinite space with two goals advantage. It was also a day Governor Lalong unveiled an ITF sponsored monument recently erected close to the ITF headquarters as part of corporate contributions to uplift and upgrade the aesthetic appeal of its environment.