Business
ITF Promises Skilled Manpower For NEDEP Implementation
The Industrial Training
Fund (ITF) has promised to provide skilled manpower to ensure the successful implementation of the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP).
Its Director-General, Prof. Longmas Wapmuk, made the promise in an interview with journalists in Abuja.
“NEDEP is an aspect of National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.
“Under the NIRP and NEDEP, the ITF is expected to provide skilled manpower because no nation can move forward without skilled manpower,’’ he said.
Wapmuk said ITF had designed the National Industrial Skills Development Programme which included the training of youths in various states as part of its contributions to boost the economy.
“We have fashioned a three-month programme in various states where we train 1000 youths in different trade areas determined by the state governments concerned and the private sector operating in those states.
“ At the end of the three months, we will graduate them and hand them over to Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN),’’ ITF boss said.
According to him, SMEDAN will now organise them into cooperatives and business development groups and sensitise them on ways to access funds from financial institutions.
He said after the sensitisation programme by SMEDAN, the beneficiaries would be handed over to the Bank of Industry for financial assistance.
“BOI will consider their applications and fund them appropriately so that they will be able to set up businesses for themselves and become employers of labour,’’ he said.
He said that if NADEP was well implemented, it would go a long way in reducing unemployment in the country.