450,000 youths Benefit from ITF Skills Training- ITF DG
… says 18,000 more on the line

Not less than 450,000 youths have undergone various skills acquisition programme organized by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) through the National Industrial Skills Development Program in the last two years.
The Director-General of ITF, Mr Joseph Ari, stated this Thursday in his address at a world press conference held at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers in Abuja.
The ITF boss noted that the current efforts by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to equip as many Nigerians as possible with skills for employability and entrepreneurship in order to create jobs and reduce poverty were in line with its mandate and the policy objectives of present administration.
“In this regard, the ITF, between late 2016 and 2018, trained over 450,000 Nigerians, 90 percent of whom are today in productive endeavours either as paid employees or as entrepreneurs that are even employing others”, he said.
He said the agency’s commitment to skills acquisition is premised on the fact that it remains the most viable and sustainable solution to rising unemployment and poverty that have continued to defy the best efforts of Governmental and non-Governmental approaches.
Reelin out reports by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Report of the last Quarter of 2018, Ari said the number of Nigerians without jobs between the 4th Quarter of 2017 to the 3rd Quarter of 2018, increased from 17.6 million in the 4th Quarter of 2017 to 20.9 million in the 3rd Quarter of 2018.
“This is despite the fact that the number of people in employment increased from 68.4 million in the 3rd Quarter of 2015 to 68.72 million in the 3rd Quarter of 2016 to 69.09 million in the 3rd Quarter of 2017 and 69.53 million in the 3rd Quarter of 2018.”
According to him, the scary development has necessitated the unveiling of the 2019 Skills Intervention Programmes as part of ITF’s determined and continuing effort to contain the unemployment malaise which will target about 18,000 Nigerians for training between 3 to six months.
According to him, the management of ITF came up with a list of eleven (11) implementable programmes for year 2019, adding that the number of beneficiaries for each of the programmes include National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) -11,000 , Women Skills Empowerment Programme (WOSEP) -360, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (Training on Wheels) -90, Design and Garment Making (Training on Wheels) -90, Skills Training and Empowerment Programme for the Physically Challenged (STEPP-C) -120, Construction Skills Empowerment Programme (CONSEP) -180, Aqua-Culture (Fish Farming) -150.
Others are Manure Production -150, Crop Production (Green House Technology) -150 and Poultry Farming -150.
Mr Ari further said that apart from the NISDP that will be implemented in all States of the Federation including the FCT, the rest of the programmes will be implemented on rotational basis among the States