The acting Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, Dickson Chinedum has said that about 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will benefit from the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).
He listed some of the beneficiaries as Sokoto, Kwara, Ogun, Katsina, Cross River, Lagos, Adamawa and Ebonyi. Others are Abia, Anambra, Borno, and Plateau.
The ITF chief said NISDP was aimed at closing the skills’ gaps in youths which made them unemployable. This, according to him, has made it mandatory to equip the youth with skills for employment and entrepreneurship.
Chinedum further said the NISDP, which began in 2012, would furnish the human capacity requirements of the National Enterprises Development Programme (NEDEP), a scheme put in place by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to fast-track the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).
“In the light of the result of the interim report of ITF/United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Skills Gap Survey, management has set in motion process to commence graduate up-skilling programme for the purpose of re-skilling 3,000 graduates of engineering and technology with vocational and entrepreneurial skills in the six geo-political zones, he added.
“This is aside from the ongoing review of the ITF/DVT (GERMAN chamber of Crafts and Commerce) collaboration, which seeks to train apprentices in line with the German dual system. The programme matches skills development with market needs and contributes in reducing unemployment by providing competences for job creation.”
Chinedum said ITF entered into a deal with the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) in 2009 to provide technical and vocational skills training to young Nigerians using ITF facilities and those of members of the organised private sector.
He said to provide opportunity for evaluation and validation of skills requirement at national and state levels, ITF was collaborating with UNIDO to establish Sector Skills Councils (SSCs).
He said 9,500 youths, translating to 500 youths per state and the FCT, aged between 18 and 35, would be trained in 38 trade and craft areas.
He explained that this would be based on their projected value addition to citizens of the states and their potential to provide a sustainable means of livelihood for youths in their states.
