By James Emejo
The Industrial Training Fund has entered into a tripartite partnership with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and Equipment and Protective Application International Limited, to boost research and development, skills acquisition as well as productivity of personnel.
Speaking during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the parties in Abuja, the Director General of ITF, Mr. Joseph Ari, said the fund had over the years, redirected its focus on technical, vocational training and education in line with global trend.
He said ITF will pursue the collaboration with vigour and all seriousness it deserves to achieve greater success.
Ari, said the fund had embarked upon an aggressive skills development programme in recent times to among other things, bridge existing skills gap labour force as well as boost the country’s productivity through effective partnerships.
He added that it is well positioned to work hand-in- hand with NAF in realising its objectives for the country.
He said: “I must say that the Chief of Air Staff has a lot of foresight with his men to think about this MoU because indeed, ITF is where you should be”.
“The ITF came into contact with the Nigerian Air Force even though a lot of the officers of the air force might have participated in its programmes in the past and since that I have noticed that NAF has not relented in its efforts to equipped its workforce and also upgrade and retrain its people “
He, also commended the officers and men for their sacrifices in keeping the nation safe.
Ari said: “Even here in Abuja, we have a model skills training centre and the model was brought in from the Singaporean experience of the institute for technical education and services of Singapore”.
“We brought a semblance of it here to experiment with five trade areas including mechatronics and autotronics, computer networking, ICT, facility technology as well as culinary in both African and Western cuisine – right here in the heart of Abuja in the ITF house, it is like a university”.
However, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal, Oladayo Amao, said NAF is a highly technical service with technology as its bedrock for all its operations.
Represented by the Chief of Standards and Evaluation, Air Vice Marshal, Olusegun Philip, the CAS noted that in line with the focus of the federal government in promoting indigenous technology, the Nigerian Air Force had been looking inwards to gradually wean itself of overdependence on foreign technology and to become more innovative and resourceful.
He said: “Therefore, in order to advance the Nigerian Air Force’s Research and Development efforts, we have deemed it necessary to formally collaborate with indigenous organisations through the signing of Memorandum of Understanding.
“These collaborative efforts provide pedestals to leapfrog capability as well as a repertoire of capabilities that can be harnessed”.
He stressed that the collaborative efforts also provided platforms to synergise ideas for innovations that are key to achieving meaningful results to solving the technological challenges it currently faces in a cost effective manner.
On his part, the Managing Director, Equipment and Protective Application International Limited, Mr. Kola Balogun, however, assured that the MoU entered would be for the overall economic benefit and development of the nation.
Essentially, the agreement seeks to establish a framework by which the parties will work together to nurture a cooperative relationship for optimal performance as well as enhanced productivity.
