The Industrial Training Fund (ITF), in line with its enabling Act, has paid over N13 billion to 1,140 employers of labour as reimbursement between September, 2016 and August, 2018.
Sir Joseph Ari, the Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, disclosed this during a meeting of the ITF Reimbursement Schedule Officers held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Head of Public Affairs unit of ITF, Suleyol Fred-Chagu, in a press statement issued in Jos and a copy made available to Daily Independent at the weekend, said the amount that was paid was the highest of any comparative period in the history of the Fund.
According to Mrs. Chagu, the Director-General of the Fund, Sir Ari, while giving the breakdown of the payment, said between September, 2016 and December, 2016, the Fund paid N2,206,296,343.34 to 275 companies while the sum of N7,515,337,391.86 was disbursed to 304 companies between January, 2017 to December 2017.
He attributed the sharp rise in the payouts to diligence and handwork of the reimbursement officers, and the commitment of management of the Fund to the payment of reimbursement to all contributing employees provided they meet all the conditions for such reimbursements.
Ari listed some of the conditions for granting reimbursement to include the payment in full of their annual training contribution, training of their workforce across all cadres, presentation of evidence of training, acceptance of students on the Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) as well as, application for reimbursement within the stipulated period.
He explained that the idea behind the payment of reimbursement was to encourage employers of labour to train their workforce.
“The ITF Act provides that every employer having either five or more employees in its establishment or less than five but with an annual turnover of N50 million and above, shall in respect of each calendar year, contribute one percent of its total annual payroll to the Fund.
According to him, the act also requires that the Fund might make a refund of up to 50% of the amount paid by an employer if the Fund is satisfied that the training program of the employer is in accordance with the Fund’s reimbursement schemes.”
