Job Creation: Nigeria’s Industrial Training Fund calls for improved technical education

The Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, Mr Joseph Ari says employment challenges are extensive and multifaceted which requires multiple strategies to curb them.

Mr Ari stated this during a panel discussion at the 2022 Nigeria Employer’s Summit with the theme: “Private Sector as an Engine for National Development”, in Abuja Nigeria’s capital.

He said, if Nigerian youths are empowered with skills, the country should be able to export manpower and human capital to the rest of the world and also earn foreign direct investment.

According to him, “When we had the assessment study on the sixth priority sectors of the economy with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, we found out that the jobs are actually there, but we do not even have the requisite Nigerians to occupy those jobs”.

“If we engage this young population, they will go up and take over other climes of the world, and who knows a Nigerian can even become a Canadian Prime Minister someday”. The ITF Boss noted.

Mr Ari explained that the ITF has been at the forefront of advocating the need of including the Technical Vocational Education and Training, TVET in the Nigerian educational curriculum.

“That is why the ITF has been working around the clock regarding the students industrial work experience, where you bridge the gap between the issue of theory and practice and the negative societal view of vocational skills or position and entrepreneurship,”  he stated.

“Most Nigerians have grown to believe that it’s paper qualification that will take you to places but we have seen in other climes of the world that is not paper qualification more or less, you need skills to fix infrastructure.”

The ITF Boss however, called on stakeholders to come together and have a common purpose and a common ground to boost the private sector mainly through skills acquisition.

Hauwa Abu