ITF Tasks Government On Job Creation

The Director General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Prof. Longmas Wapmuk, has told the Federal Government to create job opportunities for school leavers and adult learners to enable them to apply their acquired skills.

Wapmuk who made the appeal recently in Abuja while speaking with newsmen said the establishment of the Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC) was part of the effort to engender youth capacity building for self-employment and poverty reduction.

He described the centre as a post secondary school technical training institute to nurture and produce much-needed technical personnel with the skill and confidence to face the challenges of the changing world.

“The youths are trained to acquire relevant skills, knowledge and values responsive to the changing needs in industries for sustainability and national development,” he said. According to him, experts have severally advocated that one area Nigeria needs to succeed in commerce and industries is quality training of employees equipped with new skills. “The MSTC is shaped with the mission to create opportunities for school leavers and adult learners to acquire employable skills, knowledge and values for life-long learning and self-help in a competitive global economy,” he said. He said the centre would soon award the National Institute of Technical Education Certificate (NITEC) that would be internationally recognised and equivalent to the Ordinary National Diploma. He said that the centre would produce more than 300 self-employed youths yearly as a strategy for poverty reduction.

Wapmuk was awarded the Rotary Club of  Gwarimpa’s Excellence in Vocational Service in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of vocational skills development in Nigeria.