The Industrial Training Fund (ITF), in collaboration with the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), has injected 48 fresh graduates into the economy after twelve months training.
The graduands, most of whom are university graduates, were trained in various skills across the Nigerian industrial value chain with a view to mitigating the level of idleness among youth.
Addressing the graduands during the graduation ceremony at the Industrial Skill Training Centre in Kano, the Director General of the fund, Sir Joseph N. Ari emphasized the need for Nigerian youths to look beyond university degrees and seek additional skills after their studies for self sustenance and job creation.
He described skill set as “currency of 21st century” adding that many graduates were unemployed because of lack of entrepreneurial skills.
“Most of the people that keep life going are those with skills. We have many graduates that studied lucrative courses both in sciences and humanities, but as good as these courses are, opportunities are not there for them in the labour market as such a lot of them are unemployed; but there is no way you can have a skill and be redundant,” he argued.
Represented by the Director Research and Curriculum Development, Mr Zacharia John Piwuna, the ITF boss disclosed that since inception of the programme about 10 years ago, over 100, 000 youths from the 36 states of the federation had been trained in different trades.
He said over 80 percent of ITF graduates were employed in both public and private sectors, contributing to the economic development of the country.
The director general appealed to government to expand the scope of its investment in human capital development by establishing more technical and skill acquisition centres across the country.
The District Head of Gwale, who was also the chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Yahaya Abdullahi Abbas commended the facilitating agencies for investing in manpower development describing it as a right step towards addressing the menace of social vices in the state.
He urged the graduands to utilize their skills judiciously for their personal development and the country at large.
Some of the beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the facilitators and promised to be good ambassadors of the scheme.
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