Tackling Poverty, Unemployment the ITF Way

The Industrial Training Fund has taken it upon itself to de-escalate the surging poverty and unemployment rate in the country by consistently providing skills acquisition to equip the teeming unemployed Nigerians to stand on their feet. Seriki Adinoyi writes

The World Bank recently gave Nigeria a worrisome rating on poverty index, disclosing that in the year 2020 alone, seven million Nigerians were pushed below the poverty line.

Expectedly, this has generated reactions from many quarters, most of which were devoted to blaming the government as the cause of the current surging inflation and general hardship in the country. But as usual, not so many proffered any solution to the damning report.

Others have said it’s an aftermath of the unabated security challenges in the land, adding that the rising insecurity in Nigeria has prevented farmers from going to their farms, even as traders also can no longer travel with their goods to far markets to sell, all due to insecurity.

Yet, others have linked the current poverty to the recent COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world in the wake of its outbreak, adding that jobs, businesses, and other means of livelihood have been lost to the pandemic.

As much as these facts are there, unemployment remains the leading cause of poverty in Nigeria. Even the current insecurity is considered an offshoot of unemployment. Youths have taken to all forms of vices and criminality because they lack job to do. Many that have resorted to banditry and insurgency would not be there if they were employed.

Also, many of those relieved of their jobs during the pandemic virtually resorted to doing nothing because they lack requisite skills to do anything for themselves. Yet there are no longer white collar jobs around to engage them. That’s the reason even graduates now prefer to also have some acquired skills to get them engaged while the limited white collar jobs are not there.

Even President Mohammadu Buhari, recently, in an interview, attested that unemployment has contributed to the restiveness witnessed across the country. He has therefore renewed the commitment of his government to creating jobs for the teeming unemployed Nigerians as way of tackling poverty, unemployment, and invariably insecurity in the country.

Crucial Role of ITF
This is where the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has come in to play a very crucial role. Seeing that getting white collar jobs has become a mirage, government has considered skill acquisition as a veritable alternative that can lift millions of Nigerians above the poverty line. Nigerians, with needed skills, would be able to stand on their own and even create jobs for others.

The ITF has done credibly well in this regard, and has received accolades from government. It has continued defy all odds to make sure that Nigerians are adequately trained to take up jobs. But of course, like Oliver Twist, government has continued to ask for more.

Scorecard
Recently, while giving the scorecard of ITF during a visit of the House of Representative committee on Industry on oversight function, the Director General of the Fund, Sir Joseph Ari proudly disclosed that fund has so far trained over 25 million Nigerians that are now manning key sectors of the national economy in its 49-year history.

This fact is mind bulging! If this number of Nigerians manning key sectors of national economy passed through ITF training, then it will be correct to say that the fund cannot be pushed aside in the national scheme.

Ari said, “As you are aware, the key mandate of the ITF as enshrined in the Act is the provision of skilled manpower sufficient to meet the needs of the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy. Despite the enormity of the mandate, I am pleased to note that the ITF has discharged it with great successes by training over 25 million Nigerians that are manning key sectors of the national economy in its 49-year history.”

He added that the fund was not about to rest on its oars regardless of its current achievements as it has sustained the pace of activities in all facets of its operations, recalling that since the assumption of the incumbent management in the ITF in 2016, commitment to equipping Nigerians with technical skills for employability and entrepreneurship has never wavered, adding that emphasis of the fund on skills acquisition has been premised on the firm belief that it remains the most sustainable solution to increasing poverty and unemployment, and the catalyst to economic growth and development.

With this drive, in 2020, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, ITF defied the odds and went ahead to implement landslide skills intervention programmes including the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), Special Skills Development Programme (SSDP), Federal Government Skills Empowerment Programme (FEGOSEP), Info-Tech Skills Empowerment Programme (ISEP), and Agri-Preneurship Training Programme (ATP).

Together, the programmes trained thousands of Nigerians at the funds various centres spread across the nation, and the trainees were empowered with start-up packs for them to set up on their own.

It was elating to see that while many were losing their jobs in the aftermath of the pandemic, ITF was training and empowering others with start-up packs to set up business for themselves.
To square up to the growing unemployment challenge, the fund had to upgrade facilities at its Industrial Skills Training Centres (ISTCs) and the Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC), Abuja leading to the equipping of more Nigerians with technical skills for employability and entrepreneurship.

One outcome of these efforts was the production of the first indigenous Android GSM Smartphone with 100 per cent locally sourced materials by the ITF Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC), Abuja.
The device, which was presented recently by the Minister of the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo to Mr. President, is comparable in quality to any available android device in the market today.

The fund also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for up-skilling of serving Corps members. This strategic partnership was aimed at equipping corps members with technical skills to prepare them for self-reliance after National service in the face of dwindling opportunities for white collar jobs.

The fund also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD) to train 23,130 youths in the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT in 22 trade areas under the Ministry’s Youth Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Programme (YOSDEP).

For capacity development of Nigerians, ITF also entered into partnership with the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), and Nigerian Air Force (NAF).

The fund also expanded the scope of its partnership with the umbrella body of the Organised Private Sector, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), which gave birth to the Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP), which is a perfect example of Public-Private Partnership (PPP), being advocated by the Federal Government.

Highlighting on this multifaceted approach of tackling unemployment in Nigeria, the Director General of the fund said, “It is our contention that until most Nigerians are equipped with competitive technical skills, we will, as a Nation, continue to fight a losing battle against the blights of poverty and unemployment and their attendant consequences.”

He said ITF also provide direct training services to employers of labour for them to be productive and perform optimally. The fund said it has through its scheduled and unscheduled training programmes trained thousands of employees from over 200 organisations across the country despite the pandemic.

Challenges
These laudable achievements didn’t come with a price; the fund had had its share of challenges in the past.

Sharing on some of tough times ITF had gone through, Ari said that he assumed office to meet that competing and divergent interests and opportunistic elements had torn apart the Fund renowned togetherness. He observed that its unity of purpose, singleness of aims and clarity of objectives had equally eroded; giving way to a work environment that was toxic, unfriendly and unhealthy, even as stakeholders expressed great dissatisfaction with the services they got.

“It was against this backdrop that on assumption I promised to do two things: to work as unto God in order to transform the ITF, and to heal wounds. I am gratified that with your individual and collective support, I can confidently say that we not only achieved and performed remarkably on both counts but indeed outstripped all expectations given the conditions we inherited”, he said.

Staff Development, Welfare
On staff development and welfare, the DG said he was aware that when employees are fully motivated, they become more committed to their duties and are generally more productive. He said that staff welfare and development was considered a priority as the management of the fund has continued to implement welfare packages to motivate the workforce for optimal performance.

With this in mind, even when most organisations ceased payment of salaries on account of the disruptions by COVID-19, the DG said ITF continued to live up to its responsibilities, thereby helping to maintain industrial harmony.

He said when he was reappointed that, “we will not be celebrating today without your individual and collective efforts. Indeed your commitment, hard work and sacrifice ensured that my reappointment by Mr. President was a mere formality, instead of the difficult process it might have been.

“Having said this, I wish to, however note that from the targets we have set for ourselves and from the economic distortions as a result of COVID-19, the next few years will be challenging for us in very many ways.

“Firstly, as a result of COVID, many organisations have either rationalised their workforce or even closed shop because of the very difficult operational environment. This will no doubt have negative implications on the revenue generation of the fund. It also means that we will need to be parsimonious in the application of the meagre resources available to us. By implication, we will have to cultivate a culture of doing more with less.

“Secondly, in times of economic difficulties such as we are passing through, the first option of most managers is to cut expenses on human capital development. This will no doubt impact the number of people we train and the revenue generated therefrom. What this calls for, is to be more creative and innovative, and above all develop the spirit of persistence and resilience in the marketing of our services. It also means that everyone from the DG to clerk will become a marketer, otherwise we will fail and the consequences of such failure are only best imagined.

“In addition, because of layoffs, the onus will be on us as the leading human capital development institution to provide as many Nigerians as possible with the necessary technical skills for them to set up on their own. In the absence of white- collar jobs, skills acquisition is the only sustainable solution to effectively tackle the problems of poverty and unemployment and the attendant implications on our society. Government expects this of us and we cannot afford to fail.

“From the picture I have painted, it should be clear to us what lies in wait for us as staff of the Fund. We must resolve to embrace today’s obstacles to reach our next stage of achievement. Therefore, we need to be more effective, creative, and resilient, and work with greater intensity as unto God. In essence, every staff of the Fund must from today resolve to justify their place in the new ITF.”

Expectations
He however assured that his doors were always opened for new and innovative ideas that will drive the ITF forward, “as I believe that if creativity is given a free rein, we will together build the agency that our forebears envisioned.”

He said that the expectation is that in the next four years, the ITF will further escalate and amplify its activities especially with regard to skills acquisition and empowerment of the youths and indigent segments of the society as well as strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector through need-based training in view of the vital importance of the sector to national growth and development, especially in the light of the economic diversification agenda of the federal government.

Accolades

With this kind of leadership mindset and prudent management of the resources available to the fund, it was not a surprise that the DG received accolades when the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) named the fund as the most ethics-compliant and integrity agency amongst 352 federal government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) surveyed by the commission in 2020.

Disclosing this recently, the Director of Public Affairs Department of the Fund, Mrs. Suleyol Fred-Chagu said that all agencies that were non-responsive to the ethics and compliance scorecard, which measures how MDAs comply with ethical, integrity, statutory, regulatory and policy standards and requirements in order to diminish corruption risk, improve ethics and integrity benchmark and improve service delivery have been classed as corruption high risk agencies and have been listed for further inquiries and actions by the commission.

Ari, who was expectedly excited, said: “We are encouraged by news of our rating as the most compliant MDA. I am not entirely surprised as we have always administered the fund on the path of financial integrity and in compliance with all governmental regulations and processes and shall continue to do so especially in light of dwindling finances as a result of the coronavirus pandemic which is negatively affecting MDAs.

“But beyond mere adherence to governmental regulations, we have repositioned the fund’s operations with emphasis on improved service delivery, and have also escalated the number of Nigerians trained through our skills intervention programmes. The rating shows that our efforts have not gone unrecognised.

“Indeed, only recently we were named as one of the federal government’s agencies with the most interactive and robust website by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), and also listed among the topmost MDAs with regard to compliance with the Freedom of Information Act by a consortium of civil society organisations including Basic Right Watch (BRW), International Centre for Investigating Reporting (ICRI) and Media Right Agenda (MRA) among others.

“It is also for the same reasons that we were in 2018 and 2019, rewarded with the prestigious Award of Excellence as Outstanding MSMEs Clinic Partner and Award for outstanding contribution to the development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria respectively by the Council for the Development of the Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which is headed by Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.”