ITF Seeks N150 Billion Yearly for Capacity Development

         DG, ITF, Prof. Longmas Sambo Wapmuk

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has announced that it is targeting a revenue flow of about N150 billion annually in order to meet some of its major short and medium term in human capacity development targets.

This, the Fund noted, is in order to bridge huge gap in the availability of skilled technical manpower in the industrial and the service sectors of the economy.The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Prof. Longmas Wapmuk, who spoke in Lagos at a session to sensitise the operators and stakeholders of the Nigerian Ports and land borders, stressed that the cooperation of this group and other employers of labour both in the public and private sectors is essential for the success of ITF in meeting its set mandate.

Wapmuk explained that the mandate and targets of ITF are very ambitious and therefore requires the cooperation of every stakeholder in order to achieve them.He stated that the law mandates every employer having either five or more employees in his establishment or having less than five employees but with a turnover of N50 million and above per annum shall in respect of each calendar year and or the prescribed date, contribute to the fund one percent of his total  annual payroll.

He also stressed that compliance with this law is not only expedient but necessary to help the country achieve the lofty economic goal of becoming a major industrial country in the world.“The wholesome and proper implementation or operation of the ITF act 2011 as amended holds immense benefit for overall socio-economic wellbeing and development of the nation, because poverty eradication is a vital tool in the war against insecurity, unemployment and hunger,” he said.

He said with proper funding in place, ITF will expand Skill Training Centres across the country ensuring that there are 37 of them across the country to cover 3,725 Trade Areas which will train 25 students; each amounting to a total of 23,125 highly skilled technicians turned out yearly.He added that the six Centres for Advanced Skills Training for Employment (CASTE) across the six geopolitical zones will turn out 6,750 highly-qualified graduates annually.According to him, so much research has focused on the performance of manpower training institutions and manpower needs in Africa, using the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), a key manpower training institution in Nigeria, as a case study.“It was established in 1971 with a mandate to train manpower for Nigerian industries and other organisations. Many problems, some of which are structural and institutional failures outside the operation of the Fund, have militated against this mandate.

“Despite the revelation by the survey that Nigeria has insufficient, ineffective and inefficient manpower, the Fund was still adjudged to have performed well in the discharge of its mandate, given the prevailing situations. Among the recommendations is that the government should increase funding to the Fund to enable it effectively discharge its statutory duties.Towards rebranding the agency, Wapmuk said they have lined up different programmes that would make it live up to its responsibilities.Identifying some achievements, he said the Federal Government recently unveiled a N50 million skills acquisition centre to boost manpower development for the attainment of the objective of the country becoming one of the top 20 economies by 2020.

The centre, a mechanical craft workshop located at the Federal Science and Technical College, Orozo, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was built to produce a labour force that is compatible with the current stage of the country’s development.Wapmuk said the move became imperative in order to make up for the funding deficiencies identified in technical and vocational education.The ITF boss stressed the need to place emphasis on technical and vocational education in order to produce a labour force that was compatible with the current developmental objectives of the federal government.

The ITF amended act also states that any supplier or contractor or consultant biding or soliciting contract(s), business(es), goods and services from any federal government Ministry, Department and Agency (MDAs) as well as commercial, industrial and private entities must fulfill statutory obligations of its employees with respect to payment of its training contributions.“Any liable organisation, public or private including companies situate in the Free Trade Zone requiring approval for expatriate Quota and/or utilising custom services in matters of export and import, must show proof of compliance with this Act in respect of payment of training contribution of his employees.”

Towards realising the implementation of this amended act, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, wrote a letter reminding all government agencies to comply with the regulations.In a circular with Ref. No. SGF/OP/I/S.3/IX/274 dated 4th October 2011, the SGF directed that all regulatory agencies of the federal government should ensure compliance with the statutory provisions of ITF Act with regards to Section 6 (i)-(iii).“Consequentially, any organisation or firm, bidding or soliciting contract, business, or services with Federal Government of Nigeria and/or its agencies must fully comply with the provisions of the Industrial Training Fund amendment Act, 2011,” he said.