The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has donated ‘start-up’ kits to 310 Ebonyi indigenes to engage in various entrepreneurship ventures.
ITF Director General/ Chief Executive Mr Joseph Ari said during the graduation/ presentation ceremony in Abakaliki that over 11, 000 Nigerians have been trained under the 7th phase of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP).
Ari represented by Mr James Oluwasemire said that the current phase of the programme which was completed before the 2019 elections, involves various trades such as welding and fabrication, plumbing and
pipe-fitting, tailoring, aluminium, tiling, Plaster of Paris (POP) among others.
“Our monitoring and evaluation of earlier graduands indicates that where training occurs without accompanying empowerment tools, the result becomes less impactful.
“This made ITF empower all beneficiaries of its skills acquisition programmes with start-up kits and the present graduands are similarly
empowered.
“Further surveys have revealed that in all cases where the trainees were provided with the kits, over 90 per cent earned reasonable
likelihood as entrepreneurs.
“It is our conviction that training the youths and women without equipping them, defeats the core objective of the programme and the
present administration’s policy to create wealth,” he said.
He urged the beneficiaries to utilise the opportunities provided by ITF skills acquisition programmes, use their start-up kits for self
sustenance ad contribute to the nation’s economic growth.
“Parents and guardians have started seeing ‘hands-on’ skills as vocations and as real alternatives that could lead to a meaningful
life.
“The era of ‘white collar jobs’ for all by government is over and the perception that hands-on skills are dirty and a preserve of the
illiterate and ‘never do wells’ in our society, must change,” he said.
Mrs Ifeyinwa Osagie, ITF Abakaliki Area Office Manager noted that the NISDP is one of the flagship programmes of ITF used to accelerate
acquisition of technical, vocational and entrepreneurship skills.
“The beneficiaries in Ebonyi successfully passed through a three-month intensive skills acquisition programme in the areas of catering and events management, aluminium fabrication and installation as well as
tiling and POP.
“ITF interest in youths is due to the fact that the median age of the Nigerian population is 17.9 years which means that the country has a
preponderance of youthful population.
She urged the beneficiaries to reciprocate ITF gesture by using the ‘start-up’ packs to commence their businesses as the office will soon visit them to monitor their progress in business.
“We urge you not to sell the start-up packs or mismanage them but use them judiciously for self sustenance and societal upliftment,” she
said.
Commissioner for Human Capital Development and Monitoring, Mr Uchenna Orji, represented by Mr Chris Obaji, commended ITF for complementing the state government’s efforts to empower its citizens.
Miss Nkechinyere Aloh, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, promised that the equipment will be judiciously utilised and also be used to train others.
