... Targets 11,000 youths in 2017 skills development programme

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) will train and equip 11,000 youths on diverse vocational skills in its 2017 National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), according to its Director General, Mr Joe Ari.

Ari, who spoke at the commencement of the programme on Thursday in Lafia, said that 300 beneficiaries of the scheme were from Nasarawa State.

Ari, who was design, plumbing and pipe fitting,” he explained.

He said that the trades and crafts were chosen based on their projected value to the beneficiaries and their potential to provide a sustainable means of livelihood for the trainees on graduation.

Ari explained that unlike previous phases where the ITF relied solely on the state governments for starter packs, the Fund would provide beneficiaries of the 2017 NISDP with starter packs to enable them start their businesses.

He, however, decried a situation where nonNigerians were being engaged to fill vacancies, when millions of Nigerians were without work and had the the requisite technical skills to fill them.

Gov Umaru Al-Makura, who flagged off the programme, said that the era of white collar jobs was over.

“What the country can boast of is practical skills that will create jobs and generate wealth toward economic growth,” he said.

Al-Makura revealed that the Nasarawa government had signed a bilateral agreement with the Singaporean government to establish an institution of technical education in Lafia, to promote skills acquisition as a major path to combating unemployment.

He expressed readiness to collaborate with ITF and other relevant stakeholders toward diversifying the economy, and urged the trainees to make maximum use of the opportunity to be selfreliant. (NAN)