Musa Pam Jos T
he Director-General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Joseph Ari, yesterday said that the fund has reviewed it’s work plan to drive Federal Government’s efforts in developing the agricultural value chain for job and wealth creation and ensure food security in the country.
He noted that the fund had equipped more than 500,000 Nigerians with requisite skills that had made most citizens employers of labour.
Ari, while addressing journalists at the ITF headquarters in Jos, said the fund had commenced the implementation of the second phase of its plan christened; “ITF Reviewed Vision: Strategies for Mandate Actualisation.
“The ITF will drive Federal Government’s efforts to develop the agricultural value chain for job and wealth creation and ensure food security in the country.
“The first phase of the plan, which was implemented between 2016 and early 2020, among others, equipped over 500,000 Nigerians with skills, over 70 per cent of which are gainfully employed or successful entrepreneurs.”
He said the plan, which is hundred per cent homegrown, was targeted at rectifying the pitfalls that were observed in the implementation of the first phase and vowed to build on the achievements of the first phase to support the initiatives of the Federal Government, especially in the agricultural sector.
“The plan, which implementation will commence immediately and terminate in 2024, will focus on nine key areas of the fund’s activities namely; Direct Training Services, Revenue Generation and Sustainable Funding, Resource Utilisation, Special Intervention Programmes, Human Capital Development, Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), Research and Development, Automation of Business Processes and other Programmes/Services.”
Ari said ITF would focus on Curriculum Development, e-Learning, Consultancy Services, Standardisation and Certification, Re-engineering Business Development Support (BDS) Services for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Technical and Vocational Skills Programmes, Certification of Apprentices, Technicians and Craftsmen as well as Performance and Productivity Improvement Training, while training programmes will be developed for the Maritime and Oil and Gas sectors that were hitherto not given priority attention by the fund.
On the COVID-19, Ari said the fund would develop and implement select training programmes at no cost to the organisations just as all ITF facilities across the country would be fumigated while facemasks and hand sanitisers would be procured for all the staff, among other COVID-19 interventions.
To ensure that requisite infrastructure was in place for the expected rise in activities, he said: “ITF has concluded arrangements for the procurement of three additional mobile training units and will establish vocational wings in our Area Offices in Awka, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, Akure, Gusau and Minna, which will train Nigerians in needed trades in their locale”, adding that “efforts will also be stepped up towards repositioning the Centre for Excellence in Jos for effective service delivery. In this regard, we will accelerate processes to acquire the Jossy Royal Hotel, which acquisition has already been approved by the Federal Executive Council.”
He said in view of the funding challenges that had emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fund would explore creative and sustainable funding options, including approaching multilateral agencies like the International Labour Organisation (ILO), World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) as well as other donor organisations that supported some of the activities conducted by the fund.
