ITF seeks more skills training centres in Nigeria

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) on Thursday enjoined the Federal Government, partners and the private sector to support its plan to establish more skills training centres across
the six geo-political zones.

ITF’s Director-General and Chief Executive, Sir Joseph Ari, made the
appeal in Lagos at the combined graduation ceremony of the ITF/Nigeria
Employers Consultative Association (NECA) and Technical Skills
Development Project (TSDP) trainees.

Represented by ITF’s Director of Research and Curriculum Development
Department, Mr Zachariah Piwuna, Ari said that with more centres, youth
unemployment would be reduced in the country.

“We are calling on the Federal Government, our partners and the
private sector to support us in creating more skills training centres
in different parts of Nigeria.

“We are calling on other partners to join hands with us because ITF
cannot do it all alone. We want other partners and the organised private
sector to invest in this project.

“We are calling on other partners to join hands with the ITF and NECA, so
that we can absorb more of the unemployed young Nigerians,’’ he said.

Ari, who lauded government’s continued support for the organisation,
expressed optimism that the establishment of more centres would make
young Nigerians employable and become self-employed.

The director-general advised the graduands to apply the acquired skills in supporting themselves, their families and contributing to the nation’s socio-economic transformation.

He also enjoined the graduands to always “dream big with a belief in humble beginnings, as well as continue to be good ambassadors to the ITF, NECA and TSDP.

Mr Chuwang Pam, the Training Manager, Industrial Skills Training Centre (ISTC), Ikeja, said that the graduands were trainees of the ITF-NECA and TSDP 2016 and 2017 sets.

Pam said that the trainees were graduating at a time when the Federal
Government had raised the bar in vocational training, as well as
prioritised skills acquisition.

According to him, over 500 ITF-NECA and TSDP trainees have so far undergone training in various trade areas.

“I believe that the objective of this programme has been achieved as a
large number of the trainees are either employed or fully self-engaged.

“At present, the centre is training another set of seventy-five batch VIII ITF-NECA TSDP trainees who are currently in their first term,’’ he said.

Mr Stephen Awoyele, the Coordinator of the German Dual Vocational Training Partnership with Nigeria, said that the training was currently providing technicians needed in different organisations.

Awoyele, who was the chairman of the graduation ceremony, said that many world economic powers succeeded because they embraced technical skills, TVET.

The German official told the graduands that they had taken the right path, adding that the sky would not even be their limit.

The trainees were trained in different fields including auto mechanics, electrical/electrical maintenance, mechanical machining and maintenance, as well as welding and fabrication works.

The ITF was established through an Enabling Act No. 47 of 1971.

In the four decades of its existence so far, the fund has not only been able
to raise the training consciousness in the economy, but has also helped in
generating a corps of skilled indigenous manpower in the national economy.