Over 60,000 Nigerian Youths Gain Skills As FG Applauds ITF-NECA Partnership

The Federal Government said it will continue to collaborate with the private sector towards ensuring industrialisation 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.

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

He said various reforms and interventions have 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 Doriz 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 aimed at keeping Nigerian youths off the street 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 in society.

The Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, Dr Oluwatoyin Afiz-Ogun, said 60,000 youths have so far benefited from the Technical Skills Development Project in the last sixteen years through the ITF-NECA partnership.

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 industrialisation and inclusive growth, one truth remains. Constant: skills are the 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,” he added.

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, Mr Adewale Smart, who said the beneficiaries of the TSDP programme were trained in thirty-five trade areas, noted that the project has led to the upgrade of some federal educational institutions across the country.

Smart said the Stakeholders’ Dialogue Forum was being organised simultaneously in nine centres across the country.