From Teryima Ajijah, Jos
Minister of Trade and Investment,
Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, has called for collaboration from state governments and non governmental organizations to help end unemployment and poverty among Nigerians.
The minister made the called in Jos, on Wednesday, at the occasion of workers performance review of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for year 2021, where deserving area offices and staff of the fund were rewarded for hard work.
The minister said: “I wish to also call on the state governments, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations and other well-meaning Nigerians to continue to collaborate with the ITF to end the problems of poverty and unemployment that is bedeviling our dear nation.”
Represented by the the Director Policy, Planning, Research and Statistics of the ministry, Alhaji Ndakoko Mohammed, the minister congratulated ITF for a job well done in skills acquisition.
“I am fully aware that in the last six years, you implemented several life transforming skills intervention programmes and other initiatives that empowered thousands of Nigerians with requisite skills for employability and entrepreneurship,” he said.
The minister thanked the Plateau State government for according ITF enabling environment to strive.
“My appreciation for your hospitality and for creating a conducive environment in the state for the ITF to carry out its activities,” he stated.
Addressing the gathering, the Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Joseph Ari, said ITF has performed optimally in its responsibilities.
According to the DG, the fund has contributed 50 percent of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Nigerian economy in the past years.
He revealed that ITF has trained 3,397 Nigerians in different skills acquisition within the last one year.
“The five ITF skills training centres spread across the federation trained a total of 3,397 Nigerians in various trades and crafts. A breakdown of the figure shows that the Industrial Skills Training Centre (ISTC), Ikeja, trained 436 Nigerians; Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC), Abuja, 763; Industrial Skills Training Centre (ISTC), Lokoja, 354; Industrial Skills Training Centre (ISTC), Kano, 294 and; the Centre for Excellence (CFE), Bukuru, 1550.”
Ari stressed that “in the year under review, the fund implemented Three Hundred and Fifteen (315) scheduled training programmes for Three Thousand, Two Hundred and Twelve employees (3,212) from Eight Hundred and Twenty Eight (828) organisations. It also trained a total of Seven Thousand Seven Hundred and Seven (7,707) employees from Four Hundred and Sixty (460) companies under its unscheduled training programmes.”
He added that there are several other new trainings set for the ongoing year 2022.
“The programmes earmarked for implementation are the Passion 2 Profession Programme (P2PP), Construction Skills Empowerment Programme (CONSEP), Women Skills Empowerment Programme (WOSEP), National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), Agri-preneurship Skills Empowerment Programme (AGSEP), Special Skills Development Programme (SSDP), ITF-NECA TSDP and, Skills Training and Empowerment Programme for the Physically Challenged (STEPP-C). Apart from the NISDP that will be implemented in all states of the federation including the FCT, the rest of the skills intervention programmes will be shared amongst the states based on the likelihood of participants,” he stated.
On his part, Governor of Plateau state, Simon Lalong, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Job Creation, Barr Samuel Kwamkur, applauded ITF for training its citizens, who have acquired skills and are self reliant.
He charged those who were rewarded for hard work to do more, where those who could not should double their efforts.
Ikeja Area office of Lagos state was adjudged overall best in training, and was given award of excellence performance.