Business
The Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Maryam Katagum, has commended the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) for their Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP) which has trained and empowered thousands of Nigerian youths.
Katagum made the commendation via a zoom virtual meeting at the ITF-NECA Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP) stakeholders dialogue forum and awards ceremony on Thursday in Jos.
She said that the aim of the TSDP was to tackle the challenges of unemployment and restiveness among the youths in Nigeria by providing them with opportunities to acquire requisite skills for self and national development.
According to her, the project has created enormous opportunities for Nigerian youths to become productive in employment or entrepreneurship.
The minister said that the change the government desired was for the youths to have a better standard of living by equipping them with requisite live skills to make them economically engaged which would lead to the reduction of social vices caused by unemployment.
She further commended the high quality and standard of the TSDP training, saying over 90 per cent of the youths trained via the TSDP project were immediately employed by industries, and the others had set up their own businesses.
Katagum urged the ITF/ NECA not to relent in their good works and in their efforts of building a better and more economically viable Nigeria by the training of the youths.
She congratulated the awardees and called on them to be diligent and focused so as to become great entrepreneurs who would contribute their own quota to the economic growth of the nation.
The Director-General of the ITF, Sir Joseph Ari, in his remarks, disclosed that the primary objective of the ITF-NECA ,TSDP and training programme was the acquisition of relevant knowledge, practical skills and attitudes for employment and entrepreneurship in a particular trade or occupational area.
Ari said that the TSDP core elements of training entailed the classroom training and practical hands-on exercise, industrial attachment for practical experience in the world of work and entrepreneurship development.
He explained that the entrepreneurship development was the integral component of the curriculum which was anchored on the International Labour Organisation’s Start Your Business module, which he said, was an internationally accredited module.
He said the trainees were equipped with life and job creation skills which enabled them to establish and manage their own businesses.
The director-general further disclosed that the project empowered thousands of youths annually with employable skills in over 30 trade areas across the nation, and that 80 per cent of the TSDP graduates had either secured jobs in various industries or embraced entrepreneurship.
The Director-General of NECA, Dr Timothy Olawale, in his opening remarks, said that the aim of the forum was to create a platform for all key stakeholders of the ITF-NECA TSDP project to come together to know more about the project’s mission, vision and strategic objectives.
Olawale said that the stakeholders would be updated on the activities of the project and how they could successfully fulfil their roles as partners of the project.
He said that the Award ceremony was an opportunity for the project to celebrate outstanding trainees in the different trade areas.(NAN)
– Oct. 15 2020 @ 16:45 GMT |
Tags: Minister lauds ITF/NECA’s TSDP project
