ITF to train over 7 million Nigerians in 10 years
By Kingsley Chukwuka
In line with the Federal Government mandate to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), is poised to lift over 7,000,000 Nigerians out of poverty, the Director General, ITF, Sir Joseph Ari, has said.
Ari who disclosed this on Wednesday in Jos during a press briefing with Journalists, also said since assumption of office as DG, his administration has however trained over 500,000 Nigerians in four years.
According to him: “The ITF was among the few agencies requested by the Federal Government to forward submissions on lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
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If our proposal which is receiving the attention of the authorities is assented to, the ITF will train over 7 million Nigerians in the Agriculture, Construction and Facility Maintenance, Information and Communication Technology, Manufacturing and Services sectors between 2021 and 2031.
“ITF commitment to equip Nigerians with technical skills for employability and entrepreneurship has never been in doubt. Indeed, for the first time in the Fund’s history, it trained over 500,000 Nigerians in only four years”, he said.
The DG said in 2021 the Fund has declared it as the year for Skills Escalation for Prosperity.
In his words: “We have commenced processes for the implementation of more skills intervention programmes. The programmes earmarked for implementation are namely the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), the Construction Skills Empowerment Programme (CONSEP), the Skills Training and Empowerment Programme for the Physically Challenged (STEPP-C), the Passion to Profession Programme (P2PP), and the Agri-Preneurship Training Programme (ATP)”.
Ari said in all, the programme will train about 12,000 Nigerians between three and six months, adding that the NISDP that will be implemented in all States of the federation including the FCT.
“The rest of the skills intervention programmes will be shared amongst the States. What this means is that whereas some of the States will benefit from one of the skills intervention programmes, others will benefits from two or even three of the programmes”, Ari said.
