The Director General of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, Mr Joseph Ari has called for synergy among Nigerian government agencies on human capacity development
Mr Ari stated this during a paper titled, “Technical Education and National Development in Nigeria: Leveraging Human Capital Development for Technological Resilience,” delivered at the National War College, Abuja Nigeria’s capital.
He also called for the harmonization of certificates to remove the dichotomy that exists between general education, technical education, vocational education and training.
The Director General stressed the need to strengthen collaboration between technical institutions and industries, to meet up with labour market demand adding that the government needs to establish Teachers Industrial Work Experience Scheme (TIWES) as well as adopt state-of-the-art measures that support human capacity development through engaging human expertise empowered by research.
Mr Ari advised stakeholders in Technical Education and National development to develop explicit operational policies that drive human resource development while calling for the overhauling of the TVET system with policies that provides more funding for tools, equipment and facilities.
According to him, “I say this taking in cognizance of recent declarations by persons that ordinarily should be familiar with the respective mandates of individual organisations involved in the manpower development in Nigeria but chose to conveniently to display appalling ignorance.
“For purposes of clarification, it needs to be stressed that the Industrial Training Fund is specifically mandated to promote, encourage and provide skilled manpower to meet the needs of both private and public sectors of the economy.
“Throughout its years of existence, it has pursued this mandate using apprenticeship training in both formal and informal sectors, skills upgrading and broadening for on the-job development among its many activities.” He added.
With the institutionalization of the National Apprenticeship Training System (NATS), Ari said the ITF would enhance the capacity of artisans, craftsmen and technicians for employment and provide Nigerians with the relevant skills and competencies that would grow the economy.
“The mandate of the ITF is very clear on its expectations of it. Therefore, the notion that the ITF should develop the entrepreneurship curriculum of tertiary institutions is entirely outside of the scope of its mandate and the responsibility of other Regulatory Agencies
“I must also strongly stress that the sooner the Agencies of Government involved in human capacity development find ways of working together, the easier for us to arrive at enduring solutions to curbing the numerous national challenges using the TVET template.
“We are therefore urging all stakeholders in TVET to collaborate with the ITF to move our Nation forward.” He added.
PIAK
