ITF to review strategies to meet Nigeria’s skills requirement

ITF to review strategies to meet Nigeria’s skills requirement

The Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mr Joseph Ntung Ari, has said the fund would be reviewing and refocusing its strategies to meet the nation’s skills requirements in line with global best practices.

Ari, who made this known on Monday in Jos, Plateau State capital while briefing the press, said that the unemployment rate in Nigeria was worrisome.

He said the fund has found it imperative to review and refocus its strategies to address and meet the skills required of the nation in line with global best practices.

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“This is based on the available statistics and in line with the fund’s mandate of developing a vast pool of skilled manpower sufficient to meet the needs of the public and private sectors.

“The fund will upscale its activities to address the soaring unemployment and other socio-economic challenges.

“It will do these by leveraging its experience, expertise and expansive network and the deployment of technology for wider coverage and more flexible service delivery,” Ari said.

The ITF boss added that the new policy framework, which had the theme, “Re-Engineering Skills for Sustainable Development” had external and internal components.

Ari said that the internal components of the plan entailed value reorientation, industrial development, commercialisation of ITF facilities, alternative funding window, deployment and promotion.

Similarly, he said that the annual budget preparation and revenue generation was intended to drive the external components of the new policy direction.

The ITF boss said that the external components covered standardization, certification, technical and vocational skills training programmes, skills intervention programmes, and electronic and virtual learning.

He added that it also included optimal utilisation of Skills Training Centres (STCs) and Vocational Wings (VWs).

“To further address the problems of rising unemployment and under-employment, the fund is re-engineering its skills intervention programmes through National Apprenticeship and Traineeship System (NATS).

“To achieve this, the fund will register as a super certification centre and extend the duration of the skills intervention programmes in line with NATS (six months for traineeship and one year for apprenticeship).

“The fund will procure and provide start-up packs for trainees in the succeeding year; design and develop skills intervention programmes, and identify and engage accredited skills training centres and certified craftsmen.

“It will also implement, monitor and follow up intervention programmes; and evaluate and certify trainees,” he said.

According to the ITF boss, the intended outcome of this strategy is to have no fewer than 27,000 skilled and employable youths -18,000 trained youths under the NATS and 9,000 youths under the NISDP and other intervention programmes.

He added that the intended outcomes included increased SMEs and Entrepreneurs to meet the nation’s economic needs.

Ari said that the fund would upgrade three of its skills training centres in Lagos, Kano and Jos to Centres for Advanced Skills Training for Employment (CASTE) in a bid to provide an enabling environment to foster creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and employability.

“The fund will equip the CASTE with state-of-the-art facilities, and it will partner with relevant stakeholders for training placement as well as identify the competitive advantage of the centres for production purposes,” he explained.

Ari said that the fund would rename all industrial skills training centres as the ITF Skills Training Centres (ITF STCs) and would train 450 instructors annually to maximise investment and improve its revenue base.

He expressed optimism that the new policy framework would place the fund in better stead to fully implement its mandate if fully implemented.

The ITF boss added that it would also drive the achievement of the federal government’s goals with particular reference to unemployment, poverty and their associated consequences.