The Director-General ITF, Dr Juliet Chukkas Onaeko ,has pledged the commitment of the Federal Government in fighting unemployment with skills acquisition.
Dr Onaeko who was speaking to the media representative at the center for Excellence Bukuru, says, empowering youths with vocational skills provides the best solution to the high rate of unemployment among youths in Nigeria.
The Director General of the Industrial Training Fund , Dr Juliet Chukkas Onaeko ,said that the concept would offer opportunities for small and medium scale enterprises to emerge and grow by specification.
She lamented the situation where infrastructural facilities in the plateau state are at a deplorable stage, also many international companies in the country remain unproductive.
Onaeko praised the efforts of ITF in human resource development in the country,adding that the organization was well positioned to play a key role in the success of the cluster as training would be an integral part of the cluster if optimum results were to be achieved.
Earlier in a speech ,ITF DG , called for partnership with Journalists towards strengthening the fund capacity to achieve its mandate .
She added that ITF ambitions and aspirations as captured since 1971 spelt out clearly specific, achievable goals that would be attained in the areas of internal capacity development ,re-branding and information technology.
As a measure towards expanding the scope of its skills delivery capacity ITF organized international competition in Brazil,she disclosed that the fund has concluded plans to establish additional new industrial skills Training Center ,ISTCS,in addition to already five existing skills centres in Kano ,Ikeja and Jos .
Dr Juliet Onaeko commended the Plateau state government for providing the opportunity for the youths to acquire relevant knowledge and skills to be useful to themselves and to their communities.
She stressed the need to give 2million youths annually training that will also revamp ailing industries toward improving the living standard of people.
According to the DG, a growing industrial economy requires adequate,consistent and regular manpower development programmes geared towards revitalizing the agents of productive development .
Further more a contributing employer is entitled to a maximum reimbursement of 60% of its contributions in respect of approved training programmes implemented,she explained.
