Director General, Industrial Training Fund, ITF Joseph Ari has said that skills acquisition remains the most viable and sustainable solution to unemployment and poverty in Nigeria.
Ari stated this on Wednesday at the closingg ceremony of the 2019 National Industrial Skills Development Programme held at the Peugeot Automobile Learning Centre, Kaduna, North West of the country.
The DG who was represented by a Zonal Director of the Fund, Mrs Husssaina Zubairu observed that unemployment had wrought a terrible damage on all facets of the country’s socio- economic life.
” No reasonable analysis will divorce unemployment from the needless incidents of violence that have claimed thousands of lives across the Nation. 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”, Ari emphasised.
The ITF Director General lamented that Nigerian population that ordinarily should be a resource, might become an albatross if the Nation could not provide a greater proportion of the population with a source of livelihood.
Ari therefore enjoined State governments , the Organised Private Sector ,Non Governmental Organisations, Politicians and other stakeholders to collaborate with ITF in the efforts to training Nigerians.
This, he explained, could be by way of sponsorship of additional trainees for ITF various skills Programmes or by buying start- up packs for beneficiaries of the Programmes.
He stated that it was only such collaborations that the Fund would be able to train as many youths to impact the Nigerian environment.
Ari urged the graduands who were presented with start-up packs to consider the materials as their ticket to the world and also an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the Nigerian economy.
In a message through the Commissioner for Business , Innovation and Technology, Governor Nasir El-rufa’i of Kaduna State reiterated the commitment of his Administration to the training of youths in skills acquisition devoid of lip service.
This phase of the programme which commenced in the last quarter of 2019 lasted between 3 and 6 months depending on the trade. In all, over 11,000 Nigerians were said to have been equipped with skills in 9 trades namely, Leather Works (Shoe and Bag Making), Welding and Fabrication, Catering and Event Management, Tiling, Furniture Making , Electrical Wiring and Installation, Solar Energy Installation and Plumbing among others.
Of the number , 300 youths in Kaduna, were trained in Catering and Event Management, Autogelle and Beauty Care, Solar Energy Installation, Domestic Electrical Wiring and Installation as well as Welding and Fabrication.
The graduands were equipped with the necessary skills and attitudes to thrive as employees or as entrepreneurs.