‘ITF skills centre can be turning point for unemployed youth’
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently announced that Nigeria has about 16 million unemployed people in a labour force of about 85m people.
The number of unemployed persons plus the underemployed is about 34m according to NBS. This is a poser for serious re-evaluation of the reasons Nigeria has so much jobless people in an economy that is the biggest in Africa.
While unemployment is on the rise in the country, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has said the industrial sector is starved of skilled labour from the indigenous labour force.
The ITF Director General, Mr Joseph Ari, in a recent briefing confirmed the skills gap in the industrial sector of the economy which he said a Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC) is set out to address.
In addition to partnering Singapore which has trained about 124 youth since inception, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) gave approval to the Centre in 2016 to award the National Innovative Diploma certificate (NID), equivalent to the National Diploma certificate to graduates of the Centre.
Conducting journalists round the Centre in Abuja, Director of the Centre, Mrs Lami Dakwak, said it started training in 2011 after several years of incubation. She said training is 80 per cent practical and 20 per cent theory to meet the practical needs of local industries.
Our reporter observed some facilities used for various industrybased skills training in the centre. They include the facility maintenance technology, information and communications technology, electronics and computer networking, mechatronics, including automation and autotronics as well as culinary Skills.
Mrs Dawak said it runs a two-year skills training course leading to the award of National Institute of Technical Education Certificate (NITEC) to equip young school leavers with practical knowledge.
With approval to award NITEC to graduates, applicants go through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to gain admission, but this requirement excludes individuals who seek the skills for entrepreneurial purposes such as in culinary knowledge.