ITF to focus on skills acquisition, youths empowerment

The Director-General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ari has stated that activities of the organisation for the next four years will be geared towards skills acquisition and empowerment of the youths and indigent segment of the society.

Sir Ari who disclosed this at the assumption to the office for the second tenure on Tuesday said the fund will also strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector through need-based training in view of the vital importance of the sector to national growth and development, especially in the light of the economic diversification agenda of the federal government.

According to him, the fund will also continue to invest in expanding its infrastructure in order to create opportunities and open up it’s service to all Nigerians desirous of acquiring skills adding the fund had completed eight projects which are awaiting commissioning.

The Director-General who pointed out that COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the development of physical infrastructure alone was not enough to move ITF forward added that the Fund will aggressively invest in the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities for deployment of training activities.

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“From our summation, the online training we recently conducted for free for our clients in the areas of Re-engineering the Workplace in Challenging Times, Digital Marketing for Profitability, and Workplace Health and Safety Programme to augment the efforts of employers of labour in raising the productive capacities of their workforce at a time like this may become a real alternative to classroom-type training that we have been conducting even after COVID-19,” he said.

He charged the staff to be more creative and innovative, and above all develop the spirit of persistence and resilience in the marketing of the organisation services adding that this means that every staff from the Director-General to the clerk will become a marketer.

He said:”In addition, because of layoffs, the onus will be on us as the leading human capital development institution to provide as many Nigerians as possible with the necessary technical skills for them to set up on their own.

In the absence of white-collar jobs, skills acquisition is the only sustainable solution to effectively tackle the problems of poverty and unemployment and the attendant implications on our society. The government expects this of us and we cannot afford to fail.

“Therefore, we need to be more effective, creative, resilient and work with greater intensity as unto God.

“In essence, every staff of the Fund must from today resolve to justify their place in the new ITF”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE