The Fund said it has graduated 29,000 artisans in 2024 under the SUPA programme.
The Director-General of ITF, Dr Oluwatoyin Ogun, said the SUPA programme is designed for implementation in three phases – Foundation, SUPA I and SUPA II.
He explained that the Foundation programme is the introductory phase of the training while SUPA I training focus on the acquisition of three soft skills – certification in Artisan Project Management, Artisan Health and Safety and Artisan Ethics and Patriotism. SUPA II focuses on technical and entrepreneurial training for artisans with exposure to certification examinations by international awarding bodies.
Ogun said the 100,000 artisans to be trained in the next batch – SUPA phase I – include the 29,000 artisans who graduated in the Foundation phase of the programme and urged them to look out for formal notification of admission into SUAP letters which would be dispatched very soon.
He said to train and graduate the 29,000 artisans in 2024, the fund created a registration platform – www.supa.itf.gov.ng – conducted a screening exercise in each of the 90 senatorial districts in the country to validate registered artisans, assessed and enlisted qualified training centres and monitored training of artisans placed in those centres.
He said the comprehensive list of the 100,000 trainees onboarded in Phase I would be displayed on both the SUPA website and on ITF’s official website.
According to him, Phase I training is designed to last for approximately six to eight weeks after which all the artisans in training would be allowed to write the certification examination at the end of the programme at no cost to them.
He added: “Successful candidates from this phase will automatically transition to SUPA Phase II where the technical training in their chosen trade area will be undertaken and certification examination written.”
The DG disclosed that ITF is preparing to undertake another round of training centre assessment to increase its number of enlisted training centres from 800 to about 1,500 centres and is also in discussion with original equipment manufacturers on bulk purchase of training equipment to support the privately-owned training centres enlisted under SUPA.
“To ensure that the three exits into the larger economy identified under SUPA are fully activated, ITF has reached an advanced stage in its work with Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) to link SUPA graduates with gainful employment in industries” he said.
