Recession Should Not Constitute An Impediment To The Policy Thrust Of The ITF – Sultan

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alh. Sa’ad Abubakar 111 has tasked the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), not to allow the current economic down turn otherwise known as recession to affect the policy thrust of the organisation, which is to train young Nigerians with skills acquisition.

The Sultan stated this during a courtesy visit to his palace by the acting Director-General of the ITF, urged ITF to re-strategise and pursue it’s ongoing skills training for job creation programme with vigor, stating that the current economic recession should not constitute an impediment to the policy thrust of the Fund.

He also called on State, Local Government and other stakeholders to support the skills training and development initiatives of the Industrial Training Fund for economic growth and development of the country.

Abubakar said countries such as Japan, Pakistan and even Rwanda that is recovering from a genocidal war are making progress because of emphases placed on human capital development. “Rwanda has recovered tremendously from its genocidal war due to seriousness attached to building the human capital”,  the Sultan said.

Speaking earlier, Acting Director-General of the ITF, Dickson Chinedum Onuoha, said he was in the Palace to brief the royal father of the scheduled flag-off of the 5th phase of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) in Sokoto.

The programme according to Onuoha was conceived by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to fast track the realisation of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).

According to the DG, “under this phase the ITF will train 500 young Nigerians each from 18 states of the Federation and the FCT. A total of 9,500 youths will be trained in different trade areas for a period of three months”, he noted.

The ITF boss commended the Sultan for his fatherly role and peaceful disposition towards citizens of the country and appealed to him to rally support of other traditional rulers in the country to counsel their youth to embrace skills acquisition training.

In another development, the Governor of Sokoto state, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has pledged the commitment of his government towards the success of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP). The Governor gave this indication at the flag-off of the 5th Phase of the Programme in Sokoto.

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Bashir Garba, Tambuwal commended the Industrial Training Fund for providing the platform for skills acquisition and empowerment of 500 youths of Sokoto state.

According  to him, the state government has been supportive of the ITF and promised to consolidate on the relationship.

He said the programme, which has been designed to sharpen the skills of the youths is coming at the right time when the state government is initiating and implementing policies to empower its citizen to be self reliant.

Tambuwal pledged to provide starter packs and financial assistance to the 500 trainees on graduation.

Responding, the DG called on Nigerians to support the efforts of the President to reposition the country. He said the nation will overcome its economic challenges soon as efforts are being intensified to equip young Nigerians with requisite skills for employability and entrepreneurship.

He encouraged the trainees to be disciplined and dedicated to their training, noting that the ITF was concerned about their welfare.