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From Gyang Bere, Jos
The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has injected hope into indigent Nigerians through the provision of life-transforming skills to fight headlong the scourge of poverty and unemployment among youths and women in Nigeria.
The ITF was repositioned in 2016 with the appointment of Sir Joseph Ari as director-general to champion President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic recovery programme and diversification to provide wealth and jobs for Nigerians.
It has provided life-transforming skills to several indigent Nigerians across the six geo-political zones, where some have become employers of labour and leading entrepreneurs.
The ITF recently performed its yearly ritual of taking stock of its activities at the 2021 annual review/merit award ceremony, which provides the platform to present scorecards, recognize and celebrate staff and other stakeholders whose individual and collective contributions ensured the achievement of corporate targets in the preceding year.
It recognized that the society was living in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertainty, Complex and Ambiguous) world, a term coined by the United States War Collage to describe the world reality with regard to COVID-19. It said the VUCA world was as fraught with modern strategic dilemmas as they strive to resolve the shifting nature of the problems confronting them.
The review took into cognizance the painful effects of COVID-19 that affected employers of labour, leading to the closure of companies, layoffs and redundancies.
Ari said the challenges encountered during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic gave birth to high demand for new skills to enable those that were affected start afresh to boost the economy and fight poverty.
He said: “As an organization that is heavily reliant on a thriving private sector for its sustenance in terms of training contribution and patronage of its services, such layoffs and closures of companies hold grave implications for the future of ITF.
“This review meeting with the theme ‘Actualizing the ITF mandate in a VUCA World’ is an opportunity for us to reflect on our performances in 2021 to come up with firm strategies to build on last year’s achievements and draw up programmes of action for 2022, bearing in mind the challenges of COVID-19.
“Prevailing government policies/programmes, the political environment and the VUCA world replete with a rapid rate of change and the multiplicity of decision factors to which there are no definite answers.”
Ari applauded the Federal Government for unveiling several policy initiatives, which included the formal launch of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025, with a vision of making Nigeria a country that has unlocked its potential in all sectors of the economy for a sustainable, holistic and inclusive national development.
He explained that the objectives of the policy were, among others, economic diversification, investment in infrastructure, security and good governance, educated and healthy population, poverty alleviation, and economic and social development, infrastructure, public administration, human capital development, social development and regional development.
Ari noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has proposed an initiative, RT200 FX, that will require commercial banks to source their foreign exchange requirement through the promotion of non-oil exports as a means of deepening the diversification of the economy as well as shoring up the country’s foreign reserves.
He said: “The programme, which seeks to generate $200 billion, will involve the encouragement of commercial banks by the CBN to support the value chains of MSMEs for non-oil exports.”
He reiterated the resolved of the ITF to continue to partner with credible organisations to achieve its corporate goals and objectives as it was willing to go the extra mile to equip Nigerians with skills for employability and entrepreneurship that would ensure the growth and development of the country’s economy.
Ari encouraged the staff to continue to give their best at work, as their welfare and development would continue to be given priority attention.
“In the year under review, management continued to implement welfare packages to motivate the workforce for optimal performance, even when some organisations ceased payment of salaries and other staff emoluments on account of the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Similarly, last year, the fund conducted the 2021 promotion examinations with 487 senior staff and 127 junior staff promoted and their arrears have been duly paid. Long service awards were also presented to 74 members of the workforce who had served the fund meritoriously for 30, 25, and 15 years, just as 2,336 were sponsored on various long and short-term development programmes within Nigeria.
“As a learning and development organisation that seeks to maintain global best practices in every aspect of our operations, 58 officers of the ITF were approved to attend specialised international workshops/training. To meet the needs of staff in the area of housing and transport, a total of N78,500,000 was disbursed to 25 officers as housing loans, while N115,100,000 was granted to 104 staff as motor vehicle loans.”
The minister of industry, trade and investment, Richard Adebayo, expressed delight with the performance of ITF in the last six years and charged it not to relent in its efforts but continue to give its best in empowering the nation’s citizens, especially as the Federal Government works to address the rising tide of unemployment and poverty in the country.
Represented by the ministry’s director of policy and research, Ndagogo Muhammed, he acknowledged that, “ITF is one of the most important agencies and, indeed, the most result-oriented parastatal of the Federal Government” under his ministry. He urged personnel of the ITF to continue to give their best at work.
He said, “From the scorecard presented by the DG earlier, it is obvious to me that rather than allow the weight of your achievements to lull you into complacency or to rest on your oars, you have become more vibrant and determined in the pursuit of your mandate.”
This, for me, is not entirely surprising, given the Fund’s track record since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria.
“From reports available to me, I am fully aware that in the last six years you implemented several life-transforming skills intervention programmes and other initiatives that empowered thousands of Nigerians with requisite skills for employability and entrepreneurship. I am equally not oblivious of the fact that to ameliorate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on your numerous stakeholders, the Fund conducted online training programmes free of charge for organizations, while also playing a key role in the implementation of the MSMEs Survival Fund, which was introduced by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of the pandemic on Nigerians.
“These are no doubt commendable feats but the Federal Government expects more from Agencies such as the ITF as it strives to grow the National economy and resolve other challenges that are confronting our country today. Of great concern to the Federal Government is the need to urgently address the rising tide of unemployment and poverty in the country today. It is in this regard that the Federal Government recently unveiled several initiatives including the National Development Plan (NDP), 2021-2025.
“The government believes that for these programmes to be fully achieved, organizations like the ITF have a vital role to play, especially in the area of human capacity development for Nigerians. I, therefore, urge you to continue with the tempo of your activities even as you reach out to other Agencies of Government especially those with similar mandates as yours so that together, we will resolve the problems facing our dear country.”
