The increasing number of unskilled population in Nigeria on Tuesday was the subject of discussion and ways to tame the menace, even as the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), raised the alarm.
Both the ITF and MAN, and the Labour sector, however, insisted that the Federal Government should find a way of taking advantage of the nation’s huge population, rather than allowing it degenerate into liability.
Speaking at the Senate Committee on Industries public hearing in Abuja, Tuesday, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria tasked the ITF to utilize the 3 million euro grant to produce skilled workers in Nigeria.
The public hearing which was chaired by Senator Adetokunmbo Abiru was aimed at
amending the Industrial Training Fund Act.
The principal bil which was sponsored by Senator Saidu Ahmed Alkali was in pursuance of widening the scope of operations of the Training agency as regards provision of skills training in management for technical and entrepreneurial development in the public and private sectors of the economy.
In his presentation at the public hearing, the Director General of ITF, Dr Joseph Ari said: “Amendments being sought through this bill will serve to expand the scope of our operations and enhance our activities.
“In addition, the amendments are imperative now that unemployment in Nigeria has been estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics Report of Q4 2020, to be over 23 million Nigerians despite several surveys indicating the existence of vacancies in several sectors of the national economy that could not be filled because of the lack of requisite skills, which underscores the need for all hands to be on deck to ensure that as many Nigerians as possible are equiped with relevant and contemporary skills.
“The amendments are equally pertinent when you consider the recently released 2022 World Population Prospects by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs that projected that Nigeria’s population will hit 216 million by November 2022, and 375 million by 2050.
“Therefore, if necessary measures are not put into place by empowering this youth bulge with skills for employability and entrepreneurship, the socio-economic problems that we are currently contending with in the country will conceivably escalate.
“An amendment of the Act will enable the Fund to expand its infrastructure to be able to accommodate as many Nigerians as possible that are willing to acquire skills for the national growth and development of the country”.
Supporting the proposed legislation , the President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ( MAN) , Engineer Mansur Ahmed represented by Abuja Laision Officer, Adeyemi Folorunsho, said ITF should further be empowered through passage of the proposed bill .
According to him, in a recent conference on skills and vocational trainings across the countries in Africa, ITF was proposed to be the flagship of such trainings which are to be facilitated by 3m Euro grants.
Other stakeholders like the Trade Union Congress ( TUC ), Nigeria Union of Teachers ( NUT), Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC), Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises ( NASME) etc, in their separate presentations, threw their weights behind the amendment bill proposal .
