ITF sets to enroll 100,000 artisans

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) said it has commenced the process of onboarding 100,000 artisans in the next batch of artisan/trainees for the second phase of its Skill Up Artisans Programme (SUPA programme).

This is as the fund graduated 29,000 artisans in 2024 under the SUPA programme.

The Director General of ITF, Dr. Oluwatoyin Ogun, said the SUPA 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, SUPA I focuses on the acquisition of three soft skills—certification in Artisan Project Management, Artisan Health and Safety, and Artisan Ethics and Patriotism—while 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 notifications of

“Admission into SUPA Letters,” which would be dispatched very soon.

He said that to train and graduate the 29,000 artisans in 2024, the fund created a registration platform, conducted a screening exercise in each of the 90 Senatorial Districts in the country to validate the registered artisans, assessed and enlisted qualified Training Centres, and monitored the 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 ITF’s official website.

According to him, Phase I training is designed to last for approximately 6–8 weeks, after which all the artisans in training would be given an opportunity to write the certification examination at the end of the programme at no cost to them.

“Successful candidates from this phase will automatically transition to SUPA Phase II, where technical training in their chosen trade area will be undertaken and certification examinations written.”

The Director General said ITF is preparing to undertake another round of Training Centre assessments to increase its number of enlisted Training Centres from 800 to at least 1,500 Centres and is also discussing with original equipment manufacturers on bulk purchases 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 the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) to link SUPA graduates with gainful employment in industries,” he said.