Lawmakers Commend ITF over its Role in Fighting Poverty, Others

bY Seriki Adinoyi

The House of Representatives Committee on Industry has commended the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) over the vital roles it has been playing in alleviating poverty and providing employment to the teeming unemployed Nigerian population.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Dolapo Baduru, who led committee members on oversight function to the Fund’s headquarters in Jos, also commended the leadership of the Director General of the Fund, Sir Joe Ari for the industrial harmony, as well as for achieving so much in the face of paucity of funds.

Baduru, who was also at the Grand Cereal industry, expressed satisfaction with the level of local content being produced in the industry, the cleanliness of the environment, and the level of safety precautions the industry observes, adding that it was encouraging to see an indigenous factory with such an ideal standard.

Presenting the scorecard of the ITF, Ari said despite the enormity of the mandate of providing skilled manpower sufficient to meet the needs of the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy, “I am pleased to note that the ITF has discharged it with great successes by training over 25 million Nigerians that are manning key sectors of the national economy in its 49-year history.”

He added that regardless of these achievements, the Fund has sustained the pace of activities in all facets of its operations; skills infrastructural development, intervention programmes, direct training services, new administrative structure and staff welfare and development, students’ industrial work experience scheme (SIWES), and reimbursement.

He said, “Since the assumption of the incumbent Management in the ITF in 2016, our commitment to equipping Nigerians with technical skills for employability and entrepreneurship has never wavered.

“Our emphasis on skills acquisition has been premised on our firm belief that it remains the most sustainable solution to increasing poverty and unemployment, and the catalyst to economic growth and development.

“Therefore, in 2020 and despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented the following skills intervention programmes: the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), Special Skills Development Programme (SSDP), Federal Government Skills Empowerment Programme (FEGOSEP), Info-Tech Skills Empowerment Programme (ISEP), and Agri-Preneurship Training Programme (ATP).

“Together, the programmes trained thousands of Nigerians that were empowered with start-up packs for them to set up on their own.

“In addition, the ITF upgraded facilities at its Industrial Skills Training Centres (ISTCs) and the Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC), Abuja leading to the equipping of thousands of Nigerians with technical skills for employability and entrepreneurship.”