By KWANTON DOUGLAS (Abuja)
Industrial Training Fund (ITF) is set to enter into partnership with the National Commission for Refugees for Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRIP) to equip the returning migrants with life skills for sustainable livelihood.
ITF’s Head of Public Affairs, Suleyol Fred Chagu, who made this known in a statement on Friday, explained that the initiative was aimed at ensuring the smooth return, readmission and reintegration of Nigerian migrants from Libya and other parts of the world that have been evacuated back to the country.
She quoted the Director-General of the ITF, Sir Joseph Ari as saying that the training would commence as soon as profiling and needs assessments of the returnees, which is currently on going is concluded.
Ari said the returnees will be trained using the existing initiative and strategies by the ITF that are targeted at equipping the youth and indigent in Nigeria with skills for employability and entrepreneurship.
He listed the vehicles to be used to include: the National Skills Development Programme (NISDP), the Passion to Profession Programme (P2PP), the Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP), the Construction Skills Empowerment Programme CONSEP) as well as the Agri-preneurship.
He added that the Fund’s three mobile workshops, which are equipped with modern facilities for training of Nigerians in Welding and Fabrication, Tailoring and Fashion Design, Air conditioning and Instrumentation will also be deployed for capacity development for the returnees just as the Fund’s five Industrial Skills Training Centres located in Ikeja, Lokoja, Abuja, kano and Jos will also be used.
The DG asserted that equipping Nigerians with skills will not only discourage the mass migration and the attendant fallouts as many Nigerians particularly those that are vulnerable to the temptation of migrating will be discouraged if fully engaged.
In another development, in appreciation of soaring unemployment despite efforts of the Federal Government, the Fund is set to expand the number of its skills centres across the country in order to open up more opportunities for Nigerians willing to acquire skills.
To this end, the Fund will establish a new Industrial Skills Training Centre in Abia State.
Arising from a 3-day Retreat at the HBC Resort, Kuru, the Fund also resolved to establish a special Training Centre in Oil and Gas in Port Harcourt with emphasis on equipping Nigerians with skills in underwater welding, instrumentation and electronics.
The new Training Centres, which will be completed between 2019 and 2021, will bring the number of the Fund’s Skills Training Centres to seven.