Mr Joseph Ari, Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), says the fund has trained 205 youths and women on various skills in the last 10 months in Bauchi State.
Ari stated this at the one-day Stakeholders’ Meeting organised by the ITF on Tuesday in Bauchi.
The theme for the meeting is, “Employable Skills Escalation: The Role of ITF and it’s Stakeholders.”
He said the beneficiaries were under its Human Capital Development; National Skills Development Programme (NISDP) and Agripreneurship Skills Empowerment Programme (AgSEP).
Ari, represented by Mr Ahmed Loko, ITF’s Area Manager in Bauchi, said the programme was designed to empower the youths and boost employment opportunities in the state.
He said that the training focuses on skills acquisition to breed new generation entrepreneurs to fast track sustainable national economic growth.
“ITF is in tune with the goal of the present administration to tackle unemployment with technical and vocational skills, and thereby making employment to utilise available opportunities.
“The youths under the NISDP were trained on trades such as catering, event management, plumbing, pipe fitting among others.
“While 105 beneficiaries under AgSEP recieved training on crop, fisheries and poultry productions,” he said.
In his remarks, Mr Abdurahman Attah, ITF’s Head of Training in the state, said the Fund continued to explore and advance in modern technologies to ensure that its programmes complied with international standards.
Attah said the Fund set up industrial training centres in Lagos; Kano, Plateau, Kogi and Abuja for vocational skills and technical development.
He said that the Fund was also conducting short term training in 40 area offices across the country.
Also speaking, Mr Usman Yakubu, Director Administration, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, said that the forum would brainstorm and suggest road map for national development.
On his part, Mr Tanko Dutse, Chairman, Bauchi State Commission for Youth, Women Rehabilitation and Development (BACYWARD), commended the gesture, adding that it would go a long way to address unemployment in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that meeting was attended by representatives of security agencies, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Bauchi State Universal Education Board (SUBEB), among others. (NAN)
