Photo caption:
From left: Mrs Suleyol Alfred Chagu, Director Public Affairs, ITF; Mrs Celina Oni, Representative of NECA DG; Sir Joseph Ari, CEO, ITF; Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadiri, DG, MAN; Mr Knayo Iwuchukwu, Director MAN; Mrs Olushola Taiwo, Former Director, ITF and Mr Abayomi Osobu, Former Director, ITF at the Commissioning of the ITF Area Office, Ikeja Lagos on Tuesday.
By Uchendu Amuta
The International Training Fund (ITF) has reaffirmed its commitment to escalate the provision of skills to Nigerian youths in its bid to compete globally.
Worried over the level of the young population relocating out of the country for greener pastures abroad, ITF said Nigeria must make the best use of its young population to generate the much needed foreign exchange for the nation, calling on the federal government and relevant stakeholders to join hands together to bridge the dearth of skill gaps in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the commissioning of ITF Ikeja area office, on Tuesday in Lagos by the Director General, ITF, Sir Joseph Ntung Ari, the ITF boss noted the essence of the commissioning is to ensure that it escalates the provision of skills to the Nigerian people particularly the young population.
“We are lucky that the young population forms the larger part of the Nigerian population unlike other parts of the world, but when this young population is not put to positive use, we will be sitting on a time bomb. Time has come for all of us to put our resources together as a team to be able to equip our young population with the needed skills for employability and entrepreneurship,” he advised.
According to him, so far over 500,000 Nigerian young men and women have been empowered with requisite employability skills over the past five years.
In his words: “Our administration was ushered into office in September 2016, but as at 2021, we were able to equip over 500,000 Nigerian young men and women with the requisite skills and the numbers are going up by the year. The ITF is one institution that is very concerned about monitoring its trainees to see how they are faring.”
Speaking on the commissioning, he said is part of the continuing efforts of ITF to not only expand access for more Nigerians to acquire technical skills by providing the enabling infrastructure, but also to enhance efficient and effective delivery of its services in line with its mandate.
In his words: “It is in furtherance of this that ITF under the incumbent management in year 2020, commissioned five new projects namely; Lagos Island Area Office Complex and Vocational Wing, Mechatronics and Administrative block at the Industrial Skills Training Centre (ISTC), Kano, the Katsina Area Office Complex and Vocational Wing, the Modern Library Complex, and Central Store at the Headquarters and a Block of Classrooms at the ITF Staff School.
As further proof of our commitment to deepening of our infrastructure, between 2021 and this year, the Fund completed 10 Office Complexes with Vocational Wings located in Gusau, Minna, Aba, Awka, Yola, Maiduquri, Uyo, Abakiliki, Owerri and this edifice in Ikeja that is being commissioned today. Other projects including the ITF Area Office Complexes and Vocational Wings located in Gombe and Bauchi, the recently acquired Jossy Royal Hotel in Jos and the ITF Multipurpose Conference Centre in Abuja.”
He pointed out that at the assumption of office of the incumbent management in the ITF, many of these facilities that have been commissioned or about to be commissioned were abandoned, in some cases, for several decades, adding that the management set about finding ways to complete the abandoned structures for reasons aforementioned.
“Our determination to expand existing infrastructure was informed by the fact that Nigerians have become increasingly aware of the importance of skills acquisition as a pathway to sustainable internally generated revenue are currently on-going and nearing completion,” he stressed.
He noted that the plan of the ITF management is to train and send trainees for internship at the recently purchased Jossy Royale Hotel in Jos which is currently being remodeled, stressing that the aim is to escalate the numbers of Nigerians with requisite skills in different trade areas.
“Apart from the aforementioned, it is common knowledge that Nigeria is battling severe unemployment and poverty with as many as 33 per cent of Nigerians of working age reportedly unemployed. We believe that if this trend is not contained, our increasing population that should ideally boost our global competitiveness will become a real albatross in future. It is equally possible that if not curtailed, the security challenges, criminal and other social vices that we are contending with today on account idleness of Nigerians especially the youth, could conceivable increase,” he warned.
“Again, without available infrastructure, the agenda of President Tinubu especially with respect to issues such as remodelling the economy to bring about growth and development through job creation, creation of agricultural hubs and targeting higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth amongst others, which Mr. President outlined in his inaugural address, will not be easily realisable, as all of them require considerable Human Resource Development (RSD) interventions,” he advised.
He reiterated its appeal to Nigerians especially governmental agencies and other stakeholders to collaborate with the ITF in its efforts to equip Nigerians with requisite skills.
Also speaking, the Director General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said the unemployment crisis in the country is a serious issue, lamenting that with over 70 per cent of youths unemployed, the nation is sitting on a time bomb.
“If we have an agency of government that is set up for improving skills and even adding to the number of people we employ, I think that could be a Key Performance Index (KPI) for government agencies in Nigeria and ITF will shine bright where it is being mentioned
He commended the staff and management of ITF for their efforts to making the job a lot easier for the Governing body of ITF to deliver on its mandate.
