The Industrial Training Fund has said it will train about 18,000 Nigerians on 11 skills acquisition programmes this year.
The Director-General of the fund, Joseph Ari, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said the various programmes will be taught within three to six months, starting from August.
Mr Ari, who spoke in Abuja at a press briefing, said the various social investment programmes and skills acquisition programmes being implemented by the ITF are evidence of the federal government’s efforts to get Nigerians engaged in meaningful economic ventures.
He said the fund is committed to skills acquisition because skills are the most sustainable solution to rising unemployment and poverty.
He said unemployment has caused terrible damage on all facets of the nation and cannot be disconnected from the violence that has claimed thousands of lives.
“It will equally be difficult to separate rising criminality and harmful social vices that are being perpetrated by Nigerians because of unemployment and the attendant poverty. Consequently, our population that ordinarily should be a resource has become an albatross because we cannot provide a greater proportion of our population with a source of livelihood,” he said.
He referred to the NBS report of the last quarter of 2018 which showed a decline in employment and an increase in unemployment
According to the report, the number of Nigerians without jobs, between the 4th Quarter of 2017 to the 3rd Quarter of 2018, increased from 17.6 million to 20.9 million.
This is despite the fact that the number of people in employment increased from 68.4 million in the 3rd Quarter of 2015 to 68.72 million; in the 3rd Quarter of 2016 to 69.09 million in the 3rd Quarter of 2017 and 69.53 million, and in the 3rd Quarter of 2018
The ITF programmes are the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), Women Skills Empowerment Programme (WOSEP), Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (Training on Wheels), Design and Garment Making (Training on Wheels) for Nigerian youths under the Passion to Profession Programme (P2PP), and Skill Training and Empowerment Programme for the Physical Challenged (STEP-C).
Others are; Construction Skills Empowerment Programme (CONSEP), Aqua-Culture (Fish Farming), Manure Production, Crop Production (Green House Technology), Poultry Farming and Training Programme Development on International Marketing and Test Running.
Mr Ari, however, said only the NISDP will be implemented in all states of the federation, including Abuja while others will be implemented on a rotational basis among the states.
According to him, preliminary activities for the implementation of the programmes which include procurement of crested shirts and face caps, screening of participants and selection of training centres had commenced.
He said the agro-allied trades which are Aquaculture (Fish Farming), Manure Production, Crop Production (Green House Technology) and Poultry Farming will commence immediately after the test run of facilities has been completed.
“The Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) component of the programmes will commence on various dates between September 2019 and February 2020 in conjunction with our sister agency, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN),” he said.
Mr Ari emphasised that the federal government and its agencies cannot provide jobs for all Nigerian
He appealed to Nigerians to support the government’s efforts to create jobs and reduce poverty through skills acquisition rather than view it as the responsibility of the ITF and other agencies of the federal government alone.
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