New Telegraph

Unemployment: ITFs’ skill acquisition template to the rescue

With the number of joblessness increasing on NBS’ tally, adopting Industrial Training Fund’s skill and vocational template across board would be a novel way of tackling unemployment. ABDULWAHAB ISA reports

Unemployment surge is one of the major challenges taking a huge toll on Nigeria. Latest unemployment data from National Bureau of Statistics put the jobless rate in Nigeria at 33.3 per cent as of fourth quarter of 2020, compared to 27.1 per cent in Q2. It implies that 23.18 million of the country’s labour force either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week, making them unemployed by the country’s definition of unemployment.

It also meant that there was another 1.42 million people added to the country’s unemployment portfolio when compared to 21.77 million unemployed persons in Q2. Spike in insecurity and the depressing state of the economy also combined to fuel the current unemployment situation. Regrettably, the doors to the conventional means of generating employment (government’s MDAs) are shut to the larger segment of the populace, leaving the few with influence and resources as the only category of Nigerians that can be employed. Invariably, skill acquisition is an open window to address unemployment challenges facing the country.

There are a few government institutions with the mandate to impart that into Nigeria’s youths. Nigeria’s Industrial Training Fund (ITF) is saddled with the core responsibility, which include providing direct training, vocational and apprentice training, research and consultancy to unemployed hands. The Fund has begun expansion and innovation of its various skills acquisition programmes to fill the unemployment gap.

Skills’ acquisition template

Given the steady and consistent rise in unemployment figures and its effects as remote cause of rising insecurity and assorted crimes in Nigeria, government has been advised to pay detailed attention to skill acquisition as a means of addressing the challenge in the country. ITF administers a comprehensive skill acquisition programme – National Industrial Skill Development Programme (NISDP). Initiated in 2016, NISPP is a handy opportunity for mass skill training of youths with potential of providing them sources of earnings and livelihood. No fewer than 3,137 unemployed youths have been equipped with skills by ITF between 2019 and now. Speaking recently in Abuja on the occasion of another graduating set of NISPP, ITF Director-General, Sir Joseph Ari, emphasised deepening the scope of skill acquisition programme to engage more idle youths.

Without mincing words, Ari said unemployment and poverty were twin headaches in Nigeria. The occasion had in attendance the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Industry, Ambassador Mariam Katagum, and senior officials of government and members of the National Assembly.

The forum served as an opportunity for government officials to hold conversation on the rising unemployment rate and how the skill acquisition mechanism of ITF can be deployed as a handy and ready solution for unemployment. Shedding light on the scheme of the Fund, Ari said no fewer than 3,137 unemployed Nigerian youths had benefitted from skill acquisition schemes within a short period of its launch. Beyond imparting skills, he said the Fund went a step further to equip participants with start-up kits to get them off on their trade. Ari noted that given the sustained effort by President Muhammadu Buhari, poverty and unemployment would be tackled in a matter of time. “We will recall that the Buhari administration was inaugurated at a time when the nation’s economy was in recession, but was able to quickly steady the ship and put it on the path of growth in record time.

“That it was also able to almost miraculously do the same, when COVID- 19 triggered off yet another recession deserves the commendation of Nigerians. Indeed, before the sad intrusion of the pandemic, most of the pressing problems of the country were being effectively tackled through a raft of Social Investment Programmes, while also initiating policies that boosted the performance and productivity of agencies such as ours. “The impact of these programmes served to boost all sectors of the economy and drastically reduced poverty and unemployment,” he said.

Ari said ITF recognised the twin problems of poverty and unemployment and their implications on the economy. This, he noted, informed ITF’s decision to overhaul the Fund’s skill acquisition in 2016. “We reckoned that until we tow this path, even our population that should ordinarily be an asset will become a liability and we, as a nation, will continue to fight a losing battle against the blights of poverty and unemployment and their attendant consequences due to perilous intersection and nexus between poverty and crime.

“It is against this recognition that the Fund refocused and repositioned its activities since 2016, leading to the equipping of hundreds of thousands of Nigerians with skills that they are using to earn sustainable livelihoods,” he noted. He said under the current NISDP phase, thousands of Nigerian youths were trained nationwide in three trades namely: tailoring, cosmetology and Information and communication technology. Thousands others, he said, were equally trained in other programmes, including the Special Skills Development Programme (SSDP), the Federal Government Skills Empowerment Programme (FEGOSEP), the Info-Tech Skills Empowerment Programme (ISEP) and the Agri-Preneurship Training Programme (ATP), amongst others.

Imperative of startup kits

To migrate graduates of various skills to a comfortable startup point, ITF added to its statutory mandate by providing tools for its schemes’ graduates. Doing that, ITF reasoned, would enable them to start plying their vocations immediately. Regrettably, there are unconfirmed reports that some participants dispose of such tools for a fee. The repressing development is inimical to the good motive of ITF programme. To discourage participants from selling the equipment provided to enable them start their vocations, Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, recently cautioned 105 beneficiaries of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) in the state of the danger of toeing such paths. Bala admonished them against selling the packs given to them after their training.

Represented by the Chairman, Bauchi State Agency for youth Women and Development (BACYWORD), Alhaji Tanko Yusuf Dutse, he gave the warning at the distribution of the packs to the 105 graduate trainees in Bauchi, urging them to utilise the kits to enable them become self-reliant. “The training is to make you busy and as entrepreneurs so you can train others. Today, you’re graduating, tomorrow, we expect you to have those who you will train,” the governor said. On several occasions, the Federal Government warned the trainees of the danger in selling start-up kits provided for them to enable them start practising in their chosen fields. The tools, which are relevant to the area of training, are to enable them become self employed, create jobs and also contribute to the economy of the country. Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, during one of the NISDP programmes organised by ITF, recalled how the scheme had turned around the fate of thousands of youths with skill for employability. “The aim of the programme is to empower youths and give them the capacity to contribute to the economy of the country. “I urge you never to ever consider selling these start-up packs,” he emphasised. Similarly, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, had equally admonished the trainees to take their training seriously and make adequate use of the equipment provided for them by the government.

Tackling unemployment in states

While the Federal Government is expected to play a lead role, states and local government also have roles to play. States are expected to implement policies geared towards creating jobs and entrepreneurship empowerment for citizens. This isn’t happening in most states. Instead of equipping jobless citizens with skills that are beneficial and impactful, most states indulge in trivialising and politicising the empowerment schemes. There are instances where some governors handed out wheelbarrows, shovels and head pans as the state’s version of empowerment.

These versions of empowerment are not only selfserving, they are ridiculous and of no effect as a means of tackling unemployment at the state level. Sadly, poverty and unemployment are more prevalent in states and local government level than the federal level.

Rather than playing politics with empowerment and unemployment as most states and local government are currently doing, they should form a synergy with the Federal Government. They can adopt, replicate or modify ITF skill acquisition templates that suit their peculiarities.

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