My Handwork  And  Journalism  Training Spur Me To  Success – Sir Joseph Ari

Yakubu Busari

There is a need for the Plateau indigenes to stop politics of character assassination and bury their political differences and embrace oneness for the progress of the state by putting aside the arsenal and promote competency for nation-building.

The Director-General of Industrial Training Funds,ITF , bagged the Voice of Impact   Award from Newgate Magazine one of the local tabloids produced on the Plateau which mirrors some of his developmental strides as the DG.

The Voice of Impact Award for Sir , Joseph Ari might not mean anything but to those beneficiaries his gesture to them was a well-deserved one because Nigeria is one of the developing nations that look for  more attention on skills acquisition training centers to extract the potential of  the sectors.

The impact  Award given to him was to showcase Nigeria’s efforts to entrench transparency in the extractive industry and on the larger scale of the corporate space, with the establishment of ITF in 1972 to revolutionize Nigeria industrial sector Joseph Ari has repositioned the sector to achieve its mandate.

However, with the decimated communities, and destruction of lives and properties by internal conflict which led to the rise of militancy in oil-producing regions, banditry and kidnapping in the north, and unemployment, the Director-General of ITF was singled out with an award for positive impact in establishing training centers to cob the menace.

Here on Plateau a proud son of the soil has provided employment opportunities to women and young graduates that receive training on vocational training to stand on their own, so seeing the award is the best thank you the world can offer him.

This Voice of impact award seeks to promote transparency, participation and collaboration in government,to celebrate the hard work of the open government reformers worldwide and recognise the impact of their work in governance.  “This award is a testament to the anti-corruption commitments made by President Muhammadu Buhari at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016”.   

Nigeria’s milestone to drive the private sector’s commitment of the Federal Government to the implementation of Partnership principles, Ari built confidence in bringing all the key players to the actualized dream of ITF.

Welcome to the 2022 Open impact  Awards! ceremony  As part of the Newspaper anniversary, to celebrate the hard work of Nigerians in their various field of human endeavor as government and private reformers worldwide to bring together governments and civil society to jointly improve transparency, accountability, participatory nature, and impact of open government policy.

The track record Joseph Ari spurred the  Impact Awards and his encouraging  Local Innovation in growing industrial small and medium industries. The Impact Awards highlight commitments that have demonstrably improved people’s lives or the quality of democracy.

The Innovation Awards put a spotlight on innovative commitments, individuals in Plateau and across the country with  Local content of action plans.

“We are not unmindful of our promises to the good people of Nigeria by the past and present government. This administration is determined to confront head-on all the issues bedeviling our country. We shall take advantage of all available opportunities in order to achieve the goals as outlined in the mandate given by the founding fathers in 1972 .”

Joseph Ari avowed commitment to renewal and hope for a new era of possibilities to transform the country’s income generation, it is fit and proper to take a stock of some of the giant strides of the ITF under his stewardship. Without question, it is gratifying that Director-General Joseph Ari has walked his courageous statement with talk and evident in his record of achievements.

However, cheers by discerning observers, his leadership is looking consequential because the government is truly addressing key issues of development in all sectors and the people are better for it now.

As Sir Joseph Ari is now leading the pack of achievements is vocational skills acquisition. It is recognized that for any society to be developed, it must accord training as  a priority, moreso, considering the parlous state of the critical sector inherited

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The DG of ITF upon assuming office immediately declared a state of emergency in revamping the human capital sector and the outcome has been revealing.

With such remarkable achievements in seven years, expectations are high that the future of Nigeria’s industrial sectors is quite bright and in safe hands as Sir , Joseph Ari continues to lead the way and inspire with the spirit of journalism with integrity and the potential to acquire a good journalist who ensures the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

This is the Profile of the directors-general/chief executive of the ITF, Sir Joseph N. Ari

Sir Joseph Ari was born on the 21st of December,1960. He is a holder of the West African School Certificate, Diploma in Broadcast Journalism, Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Post Graduate Diploma in Management. He also holds a degree in Law (LL B (Hons.), a Masters’s Degree in Law LLM, and Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA). His working career spans a period of over two decades, covering different spheres of disciplines and human endeavour.

Sir Ari started broadcasting from the scratch at the Plateau Broadcasting Corporation as a News Reporter/Presenter; had a stint with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria Lagos as a Newscaster and subsequently moved over to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) as a News Editor/Caster.

His working career took him to the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria, (NICON) where he was the Public Relations Manager, North.

Sir Joseph Ari was also the Director of Press and Public Affairs to two Governors of Plateau State before his appointment as the Sole Administrator and later General Manager of the Plateau Publishing Company, (PPC) Jos. Thereafter, he was reassigned to the Plateau Radio Television Corporation, (PRTVC), as General Manager. To date, he remains the first Plateau citizen to have headed the two state media outfits at different times.

Sir Ari completed the cycle of his public service at the state level when he was appointed Permanent Secretary in charge of Government House Administration; a position he held until his appointment by the Federal Government as a Director in the Department of Public Relations,External Affairs and Publicity of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, a grade ‘A’ Federal Government Parastatal under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

As the Director of Public Relations, he introduced the re-branding philosophy which saw members of staff re-oriented to provide quality service to Clients of the Fund.

The policy also engaged external stakeholders,thus paving the way for increased support and collaboration for smooth implementation of the ITF Act.

Sir Ari was also at different times the Director of Administration and Human Resource Department, Corporate Planning Department and the Director Business Training Development Department at the ITF Headquarters.

He is a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, a Fellow of the Corporate Administration Institute and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR. Recently, he concluded two terms as a member of the Institute’s Governing Council.

He has attended various management and professional courses both within and outside the country. He has also bagged many awards of professional excellence from different Agencies, bodies and organisations.

A devout Christian, Sir Ari, is a Knight of the Catholic Church of the Order of St.Mulumba (KSM), where he has held positions as Chancellor and Grand Knight of the Order.His works of charity are numerous, but he prefers to engage in such activities quietly and with little publicity. Married to Lady Victoria Ari with five boys, his watch word is humility, while his motto is “This too shall pass away”’ drawn from a biblical verse.

And when a team is performing badly in sports, the coach is changed and the same players begin to do well. Performing teams retain their coaches and don’t change for the sake of change. That is usually counterproductive.

I believe that every Nigerian has something to contribute to the building of this great nation but leaders have a special responsibility. Bernard Montgomery, British Field Marshal said,

“Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character, which inspires confidence.”

We must therefore be able to define our common purpose and decide how to achieve it. A leader therefore has the responsibility of ensuring that this purpose is achieved by rallying the people to contribute their quota towards achieving this common goal. A leader is not to impose his opinions on people but must understand the collective aspirations of the people and work to make them a reality. Leaders must be able to provide the vision that will unite us all and move us forward. Renowned leadership expert John Maxwell said that a leader should be able to see before others see, farther than others see and more than others see.

He must also be able to communicate this vision with such clarity and simplicity so as to carry everyone along.

A leader must possess the competence to lead. He should be able to harness all the resources to achieve set goals.

He needs intuition to navigate through difficult terrains. A leader is a reader. He is a reader of situations, trends, resources, people and himself.

The next most important attribute of a leader is integrity. He must possess the integrity that will enable the people to trust him. Trust is the foundation of leadership. This will not be possible if the leaders are selfish and insensitive to the needs of the people or if leaders divert public money for personal use. It is said that “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Corrupt leaders ruin a nation.

Leaders share a common problem: building credibility in a cynical society.

People don’t believe anything. People don’t believe especially in leadership for very many reasons.

Political leaders make frantic efforts to win the hearts of followers and be ahead of their competitors. They have made promises they have not been able to deliver on.

Trust is difficult in a situation where leaders loot the treasury and ignore the suffering of the people. It is time for leaders to become accountable to the people. It is time for leaders to become good stewards of the resources of state. People get tired and become cynical when promises made by leaders are not kept. People want to see basic amenities provided for them: good roads, portable water, and constant supply of electricity, easy access to petroleum products, to mention a few.

Every time I watch the public being interviewed on television concerning the government; I feel very bad.

Leaders have over the years created the impression that they can fix everything. The truth is that they simply can’t.

People believe the government should provide schools, jobs, houses, hospitals, good roads etc. Fair enough but my question is what is the dividing line between government responsibility and individual responsibility?

The romance between leaders and followers is one that we hate and love. People don’t want leaders but they cannot do without them.

I believe time has come for the Church to spearhead a campaign for reorientation. We just need to trust the government and love the nation. People must be made to understand that we all have a role to play in building a strong nation.

I look forward to see the day Nigerians will talk about Nigeria with love and passion the way Americans talk of their country.

Leadership is a life we live, not a show we perform. Leadership is modelling the character we want the nation or organization to possess. Leadership is serving the people the way we want the people to serve the nation. Leadership is doing what we profess. Leadership is modelling a life of sacrifice, humility and meekness. Jesus was a servant leader who modelled the Christian life for us to follow.

He led by example, and so should we.It is not how we begin that matters but how we finish.

My prayer is that we will all finish well in Jesus name.When man rejected the authority of God in the Garden of Eden he lost his authority over the earth. Our authority derives from our submission to God. Without God we can do nothing. We must continue to maintain a close relationship with God if we are to end well. Leaders receive many counsels and they should, but the one counsel that can never fail is the counsel of God.

The Bible says if God be for us, who can be against us? True wisdom is found in the World of God. To succeed and excel, it is imperative to operate in the wisdom of God. This wisdom begins with the fear of God. I pray that God will begin to raise God-fearing leaders to lead us.Lean on God for help; He can do what you are not capable of doing. You may have heard the story of a little bird that perched on the back of a big elephant while crossing a local bridge made of and planks. Naturally, the bridge was shaking while they were crossing and when they got to the other side, the little bird said to the elephant; did you see how we shook the bridge? I believe we too can shake bridges and move mountains riding on the back of the very big God who made heaven and earth. Apostle Paul puts it this way, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It is not that we cannot do anything at all on our own strength, but we can simply do more and do better by relying on God.

May you become a leader of integrity and may you make the right impact on the people you lead in Jesus name! I pray that you will leave a legacy that your children and generations after you will be proud of in Jesus name! My God bless this nation, in Jesus name! Have a blessed week!