Sequel to the ongoing recession in the country, the newly appointed Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, Mr. Joseph Ari, on Thursday said the nation can get out of the economic recession if only the mandate of the agency can be implemented faithfully.
Ari made the disclosure while taking over the mantle of leadership of the ITF, from the acting Director General of the agency, Mr. Dickson Onuoha, at its headquarters in Jos.
“We are presently in economic recession, which no doubt is global phenomenon, that notwithstanding Nigeria remains the giant of Africa.
“And to my mind, I’m excited about this appointment; I’m excited because it’s when in difficult and challenging times that the tough get going,” he said.
The DG maintained that, “I believe that we can get round it and get out of the recession. And to me I very strongly believe that Nigeria can get out of this recession through the faithful implementation of the ITF mandate and the support of other key stakeholders.
“We have seen it before, we have seen it in other climes, like Brazil through Senai, in Germany through the German experience, in Singapore through the ITAs, in Canada through the (A triple C), in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Japan among others; how did they do it? he asked.
He further explained that, “They used agencies similar to the Industrial Training Fund in their countries through human capital development and that is the key mandate of the ITF.
“Anything done outside skills development, the development of the human capital, cannot work. That is one sure way out of this recession.
According to him, Buhari and the citizenry expect a lot from the Industrial Training Fund, “and we cannot afford to betray the trust that is being given to us”.
“We must note that our activities must be carried out with utmost commitment and total education.
He called on management, staff and other key stakeholders of the agency to contribute innovative ideas, adding that “we pride ourselves as the three (Es), experience staff, with great expertise, with an expansive network; and we can only portray this in our activities”.
In his earlier remarks, the out gone Acting Director General, Dickson Onuoha, said the ITF was able to train 10, 100 youths in its 5th phase of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP).
Onuoha explained further that, the trainees were from 18 States of the federation and Abuja; 500 trainees per State and an additional 600 from the Internally Displaced Persons camps in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Until his appointment, Mr. Joseph Ari, was the Director, Business Training Development Department at the headquarters of ITF.
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