By Mbafan Ade –
Nigeria’s Industrial Training Fund (ITF), has initiated processes for the procurement and installation of a production line specially dedicated for that purpose at the ITF Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC) in Abuja.
This is in a bid to commence the mass production and launch into market the ITF mobile, according to a statement today by the agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Suleyol Fred Chagu.
Chagu quoted the Director-General of the Fund, Sir Joseph Ari, as making this known when he received the leadership of the two in-house Unions in the ITF in his office.,
According to her, the Director-General also revealed that since the symbolic presentation of the ITF mobile to President Muhammadu Buhari, the ITF has been inundated with requests for partnership from corporate entities within the country.
“I have given directive to the Director of Technical and Vocational Skills Training Department, who is also the zonal Director of the ITF MSTC to get all the immediate machines so that we will be able to set up the production line”, he said.
He added that, “Since the good news, we’ve also received a lot of requests for partnership, including one from AfriOne, “who want to partner with us. This is good as we cannot do it alone because we are not an island unto ourselves. The main thing is that this product is a home grown product and this lends credence to the fact that we too can do it in Nigeria”.
On the congratulatory visit by the executive officers of the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSACGOC) and Amalgamated Union Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Employees (AUPCTRE), the DG expressed appreciation to the staff of the Fund for identifying and supporting the Management, saying, “every leader should have a strategic vision. But you also need followers that will key into the leaders’ vision and happily, that’s what has happened in the ITF. The Unions have been great partners in progress. You have at all times remodeled, looked at the vision, reviewed it along with us and the areas where you find us going wrong, you took us back on track”.
The DG stressed the need for continuous dialogue as recipe for industrial harmony. “The relationship between the ITF, Management and the two Unions gives credence to the fact that it pays to dialogue. When there is an issue, we look at it critically, where we feel that yours (the Unions) is a superior argument, we bend and go your way. When we feel that you may not have got all the information correct, we invite you for dialogue and you understand. So you are also a part of this progress because gone are the days where things were not done in tune with the expectations and the mandate of the Fund. We want to thank you”.
Speaking earlier, the President of Senior Staff (SSACGOC), Comrade Kayode Alakija and Acting Chairman of AUPCTRE, Comrade Lawal Mohammed Ado separately showered praises on the DG for the milestone achievement and urged the need to speed up the mass production of the android phone which, according to them, would be another source of revenue for the ITF.
The Union leaders who commended the ITF Management under the leadership of Sir Joseph Ari for taking the ITF beyond expectation through novel initiatives that have impacted thousands of Nigerians across the country, also assured of the full support of staff in its efforts to take the Fund to greater heights.
The highlight of the visit was the presentation of a congratulatory card to the Director-General by the Union Leaders.