The Abeokuta Area Office of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has advocated capacity building for economic empowerment.
The Fund started this during its maiden edition of the breakfast meeting with stakeholders in Ota, Ogun State, with the theme ‘Building Capacity to Thrive in a Rapid Evolving Economy’.
Area Manager and Deputy Director of the ITF Abeokuta Area Office, Bolanle Ajibade, reiterated the agency’s core mandate to facilitate, champion and foster skills development within the Nigerian industrial and commercial landscape.
According to her, “The ITF has significantly impacted the lives of Ogun State indigenes, aiming to mitigate youth restiveness and alleviate poverty in the state. Through initiatives like the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), Federal Government Skills Empowerment Programme (FEGOSEP), Skills Training and Empowerment Programme for the Physically Challenged (STEPP-C), Construction Skills Empowerment Programme (CONSEP), Women Skills Empowerment Programme (WOSEP), Agripreneurship Skills Empowerment Programme (AGSEP), the agency has demonstrated commitment to empowering young people within the state.”
She highlighted that the ITF-National Economic Recovery Growth (ITF-NERGP) has commenced training of 100 Ogun state indigenes on welding, electrical, tiling, carpentry and crop production after which they will undertake internship and be certified by the relevant bodies.
Through the Skill-Up Programme for Artisans (SUPA), which is an initiative of the Director-General/Chief Executive of ITF, Dr. Afiz Ogun, ITF has also provided an avenue to empower artisans with tech-enabled skills training, licensing and access to essential toolkits, promoting industry-standard excellence.
The guest speaker and Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Public Service, Adebowale Oyeneye, spoke on the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapidly evolving economy.
He emphasised the need for investing in education systems, promoting vocational training, encouraging research and development (R&D), supporting startups and entrepreneurs as well as fostering collaboration between various stakeholders to build a resilient and adaptable workforce.
The event recommended investing in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and STEM education to prepare individuals for future job demands.
It also called for the promotion of vocational training programmes to develop a skilled workforce aligned with industry needs.
It encouraged R&D to foster innovation and technological advancements and support startups and entrepreneurs through funding, mentorship and incubators.
It called for the establishment of a business-friendly environment with favourable policies and regulations.
It said fostering collaboration between public and private sectors, academia and civil society as well as implementing robust monitoring and evaluation to assess the effectiveness of capacity-building initiatives.
One of the stakeholders, and General Manager, Human Resources, Crownpack Nigeria Ltd., Chris Uzoalu, said: “It has been a very robust engagement and I feel this should be done often to close the information gap between the ITF and the industry. We have come to understand that without capacity building, you can’t sustain factories and if you can’t sustain factories, you can’t sustain the community. Additionally, there is a need for training and retraining of employees and we must take advantage of the wealth of knowledge and experience of expatriates brought into the country.”
