SAN FRANCISCO, August 29, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has moved to tackle the problem of skills shortages in the country as the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has indicated its intention to train over 1, 000 youths from Borno State under the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP).
The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of ITF, Prof. Longmas Sambo Napmark, made the disclosure on Thursday, while addressing selected trainees during the inauguration of the second phase of NISDP at the National Youth Services Corps (NYSC) training camp in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Napmark, who said the proramme is aimed at fast tracking the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) of the federal government and part of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, disclosed that the training of the youths was part of ITF mandate and policy directives from the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
He said it is also a response to the gross skills shortages identified through a study by United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and ITF in 2012 which revealed that there are dire shortages in all the sectors of the Nigerian economy, particularly in manufacturing, agro-allied industries and the construction industry across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.
“The main purpose of training these youths… is to turn Nigeria’s quantitative human and physical resource advantage into productive advantages of driving Nigeria’s industrial revolution plan, highly skilled entrepreneurial workforce for small and medium enterprises in areas the six geopolitical zones have competitive and comparative advantages,” Napmark, who was represented by Alhaji Garba Abdu Ganga, said.
He said after the training of the youths in various skills and trades, the level of youth restiveness will be reduced to the barest level, while they will collectively contribute to wealth creation and poverty reduction that could enhance national development and unity among the various ethnic and religious groups.
Nampak added that the NISDS has been successfully implemented in 23 states and Federal Capital Territory since January this year, saying a total of 23,000 youths had been trained on the basis of 1,000 trainees in each of the states, including those who were about starting their training in Borno State.
On the second phase of the training, he said: “ In our second phase of training, the youths are to be drawn from 14 states, comprising a total of about 14, 000 youths that will graduate in various skills and trades, while the third phase of the programme, which will be flagged off for implementation will be held in 13 states, including Yobe, Taraba, Jigawa, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Imo, Ebonyi, Delta, Cross River, Osun, Ekiti and Zamfara.”
He said under the second phase of training , three skills and trade areas were being identified in collaboration with the state government and other stakeholders. He listed the trade areas to include welding and fabrication, furniture making/woodwork and tailoring and garment making.
“It is expected that majority of the trainees of the programme will start up their businesses upon graduation while some will be employed in various sectors of the economy. They will also become potential members of various business member organisations.
“As part of the arrangement under National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP), the Bank of Industry (BOI) is to help the NISDP graduates access ‘start up’ loan facilities, while the small and medium enterprise development agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) is to provide them with business development services for the purpose of expanding their businesses.
“In addition to the technical vocational skills training, the ITF will put the trainees through entrepreneurship development to assist the trainees form cooperatives and also encourage them join Business/Trade Associates,” he said
Speaking at the occasion, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Zanna Umar Mustapha, said arrangements have been completed for the training of 800 youths at the same NYSC orientation camp.
The ITF’s training programme, he noted, is going to be implemented in phases , saying that of the state will take the same format.
The governor said the 21-day training of 18, 000 youths was to change their behavioral attitudes towards life with the skills and trades they are going to acquire.
Shettima assured that after the youths are trained, they are going to be employed by government and provided with residential accommodation.
