From Teryima Ajijah, Jos
The Director General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Sir Joseph Ari, said the Fund has trained 25 million Nigerians in different skills acquisitions to tackle the menace of white collar jobs, and also complemented federal government efforts towards providing effective man power.
Ari said ITF has in the last 49 years of it existence as a training value change agency helped in providing needed man power to the Nigeria economy.
“We are particularly exultant that the Fund has not merely existed for 50 years but has contributed meaningfully to the growth and development of our great country by training over 25 million Nigerians that are manning key sectors of the national economy.”
The ITF DG made the disclosure to newsmen recently in Jos, Plateau State, during a press briefing held at the Center of Excellence of the ITF.
It was learnt that ITF which was established in June 1971, shall clock 50 years officially in 2021.
ITF boss said management has concluded plans to train seven million Nigerians in information technology.
“The ITF will train over 7 million Nigerians in the agriculture construction and facility maintenance, information and communication technology manufacturing and services sectors between 2021 and 2031,” he said.
Sir Ari stressed that the Fund trained 500,000 Nigerians in the last four years since he was appointed director general of the ITF to pilot its affairs.
He said: “Indeed, for the first time in the Fund’s history, it trained over 500,000 Nigerians in only four years. Our emphasis on skills acquisitions.”
Speaking on financial accountability of the current management of the Industrial Training Fund, the DG said the sum of N3 billion was expended on payment of re-imbursement to partners of ITF who are facilitating some of its trainings
“In line with this, a total of three billion nine hundred and forty one million nine hundred and fifty eight thousand, seven hundred and thirty five naira, fifty seven kobo (N3,941,958,795.57) was paid to 325 companies as reimbursement for year 2019,” he stated.
He added that the Fund has developed 12 new programmes that are meant to tackle other sectors in training quality man power for better productivity.
“In 2020, based on these surveys, we developed 12 new training programmes namely; workshop on international public sector accounting standards workshop on cyber hygiene for operational optimization, workshop on business model canvas for transformation workshop on robotics process and so on,” he noted.
The ITF director general told journalists that all those who underwent training at ITF were given starter packs to begin their businesses and became self reliant and employers of labour. He explained that ITF under his watch has prioritized welfare of staffers in payment of salary as at when due and retaining.
Commenting on the area of boosting infrastructures of the organization, Ari revealed that there are nine ongoing structure constructions that will be commissioned before the end of 2021.
