The Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Dr Afiz Oluwatoyin Ogun, has rallied artisans across the country to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, citing the administration’s Skill Up Artisans (SUPA) programme as a major intervention in the sector.

Ogun made the call in Abuja when artisans from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), under the Nigeria Artisans for the Renewed Hope Initiative (NARHI), converged at the Skills House for a stakeholders’ engagement on the SUPA programme.

He said the initiative was aimed at upgrading the skills of Nigerian artisans and equipping them to compete with skilled workers globally.

The ITF boss said the administration had demonstrated unprecedented recognition of artisans, adding that President Tinubu had tasked the Fund with training artisans and bringing their skills to international standards.

He said the 2025 edition was better than the 2024 edition and expressed confidence that the 2026 edition would be even better.

He disclosed that the ITF had discovered cases of people who falsely presented themselves as artisans during the registration process, prompting the agency to strengthen its screening and verification procedures.

Ogun said some applicants who claimed to be welders, mechanics and other artisans could not demonstrate basic knowledge of their trades during physical assessments.

He said the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) was now working with state governments to ensure that recognised artisans were properly identified and captured under the programme.

“We are moving. 2025 was better than 2024 and nd 2026 will even be better than 2025,” he said.

Ogun said the government’s objective was not to prevent foreign artisans from operating in Nigeria but to ensure that Nigerian artisans acquired the skills and certification required to compete with them.

“The President has removed the screen. He is saying that enough is enough. We have artisans coming from other countries, coming to take the job.

“We are not telling them not to take the job. We want to make you highly competitive so that you can compete with anyone around the world,” he said.

The ITF DG urged the artisans to return to their respective states and educate their colleagues on the interventions of the Tinubu administration.

He said the artisans had indicated their intention to appreciate the President for the SUPA programme, urging them to sustain their support for the administration.

Ogun said: “You promised us, you delivered. You gave us SUPA. You are improving our skills. You gave us international certification. Thank you, Mr President. We all stand by you come 2027.”

He said the Skills House had been established as a central hub for skills development and urged artisans to use the facility to raise complaints and seek assistance on skills-related matters.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industrial Training and Development,
Adamson Ayinde commended the artisans for their support for Tinubu.

He urged them to take the message of the administration’s interventions to their various states, while announcing plans to involve artisans in the forthcoming National Industrial Manpower Summit.

He said the participation of artisans was important because they constituted a significant part of Nigeria’s industrial manpower.

The meeting brought together representatives of artisans from the 36 states and the FCT as part of efforts to strengthen the implementation of SUPA and ensure that genuine artisans benefit from government’s skills development interventions