By Ajibola Adedoye
The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has said NECA in collaboration with Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has trained over 100,000 students in the ITF-NECA Technical Skills Development project since implementation in 2009.
Its Director-General, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, made this known in an interview with journalists on Tuesday in Lagos.
He spoke on the sidelines of the graduation of the academy’s fifth batch of Technical and Skills Development trainees.
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The ceremony was organised by the Industrial Trust Fund (ITF) in collaboration with NECA.
“Now, there are two perspectives of graduations that we run: the first part is those that learn skills, which have run into close to hundreds of thousands because technical and vocational skill is not cheap. It is very expensive to run.
“Also, we are limited in paucity of funds, but within the context of the limited resources that the ITF-NECA project can muster, we have done credibly well to train over 100,000.
“Now, the second bit of the project is the support to technical and vocational institutions, “ he said.
Oyerinde said that the ITF-NECA project supports technical colleges in the six geographical zones with machines and equipment.
According to him, sometimes, the project builds technical workshops for those technical colleges across the six geographical zones.
“So, those workshops, instruments, and equipment are still standing there.
“Also, those technical colleges, are still using them now. So, anybody that uses that equipment, the project, is a benefactor of that person.
“So, that is the impact that the ITF-NECA project is making; and we just hope that government and other stakeholders will give it more attention and more funding, so that the project can continue to meet its objectives, “ Oyerinde said.
He said that contributing to resolving the issue of unemployment was utmost for NECA and ITF.
According to him, unemployment goes beyond statistics, but rather, it is a breeding ground for insecurity.
“Unemployment is a breeding ground for social dysfunction, banditry, and so many things.
“So it is a way of we, in a definite manner, contributing to reducing, taking those young ones out of the streets, “ he said.
The director-general said that following the skills learned, the graduates were expected to become entrepreneurs and world changers.
Oyerinde said: “We expect that some of them will become founders of ICT start-ups.
“Also, some of them will become very critical staff in organisations and will become entrepreneurs of their own, basically.
“So, those are the minimum expectations that we have of them.”
Speaking, the Director-General (DG) Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Dr Afiz Oluwatoyin Ogun, said the ceremony marked another milestone in ITF’s efforts toward generating indigenous manpower for the Nigerian economy.
Ogun was represented by ITF Training Manager Hakeem Salimonu.
“This occasion offers us another opportunity for ITF and NECA, through NECA Digital Academy, to showcase contributions toward reducing unemployment and youth laziness through the empowerment of Nigerian youth with employable technical and vocational skills, “ the DG said.
He said also, that ITF had started the implementation of another notable skill intervention programme called Skill of Artisans Programme.
According to him, it is part of ITF’s contribution to skill development in Nigeria, and in line with its efforts toward providing skills for job and work creation through the new Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
“This programme is targeted toward empowering 10 million Nigerians in two years’ time.
“The aim of this programme is to ensure that our artisans meet international standards, making skilled manpower available for the Nigerian market and for skilled export, in line with the National Talent Export Programme, “ Ogun said.
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