60,000 Youths Benefit From ITF – NECA’s TSDP Project

The Federal Government says it will continue to collaborate with the private sector towards ensuring industrialization and inclusive growth through skills and vocational training for the teeming Nigerian youths.

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan made this known during the ITF – NECA Stakeholders’ Dialogue Forum and the 2023/2024 Outstanding Trainees’ Awards Ceremony in Abuja.

Senator Owan who commended the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, for its partnership with the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, on skills acquisition and vocational training for Nigerian youths in the last sixteen years said President Bola Tinubu’s led administration is committed to empowering the youths to enable them contribute to national development.

He said various reforms and interventions are already been put in place by the present administration towards encouraging the growth of Small and medium enterprises, SMEs, job creation, youth development, and economic development.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Doris Uzoka – Anite who described the Skilled Up Artisans, SUPA programme of ITF as one of the laudable programmes of the present administration on training and youth empowerment said her Ministry would continue to support initiatives animed at keeping Nigerian youths off the streets through skills acquisition and vocational training.

She therefore stressed the need for more public private sector collaboration in reducing unemployment and making the youths self-reliant towards combating crimes on the society.

In a remark, the Director General of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, Dr. Oluwatoyin Afiz – Ogun said sixty thousand youths have so far benefited from the Technical Skills Development Project, TSDP, in the last sixteen years through ITF – NECA partnership.

Dr. Afiz – Ogun said the TSDP stands as a testament to the power of collaboration between Government and the private sector because for over sixteen years the partnership has yielded positive results by nurturing creators, problem solvers and nation builders who are reshaping Nigeria’s industrial and economic landscape.

“As our country advances on the path of industrialization and inclusive growth, one truth remains.constant: skills are new currency of national development”.

“The strength of our workforce – their competence, creativity, and resilience – will determine how effectively Nigeria competes and thrives in the global economy.

Dr. Afiz – Ogun noted that a skilled youth population drives investment and economic development hence the need for the ITF – NECA TSDP programme.

Earlier, the Director General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, Mr Adewale Smart who said the beneficiaries of the TSDP programme were trained in thirty five trade areas said the project has led to the upgrade of some federal educational institutions across the country.

The Stakeholders’ Dialogue Forum, is being organized simultaneously in nine centres across the country.

Mathew Ayoola, Edited By Grace Namiji