69.53 million Nigerians employed in 2018 Q3 -says ITF D-G

By Miriam Humbe

The Director General/Chief Executive, of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Sir Joseph Ari has said according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), report, 69.53million Nigerians were employed in the 3rd Quarter of 2018.
This is despite the fact that the number of people in employment increased from 68.4 million in the 3rd quarter of 2015 to 68.72million in the 3rd Quarter of 2016 to 69.09 million in the 3rd quarter of 2017.
He said before now, the number of unemployed between the 4th quarter of 2017 to 3rd quarter of 2018, increased from 17.6million in the 4th quarter of 2017 to 20.9 million in the 3rd quarter.
Sir Ari while briefing newsmen in Abuja further explained that in this regard , the ITF between late 2016 and 2018 , trained over 450,000 Nigerians, 90 percent of whom are today in productive endeavors either as paid employees or as entrepreneurs that are employing others .
He also noted that the present administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has made tremendous efforts to create jobs as could be seen in the increases in the number of people employed as cited by the NBS report.
“Today, across the length and breadth of the country are visible evidences of the federal government’s efforts to get Nigerians engaged in meaningful economic ventures through various social investment programmes and the numerous skills acquisition programmes being implemented by the ITF.
“Clearly, these efforts are not enough. It is against this backdrop that today we are unveiling our 2019 Skills Intervention Programmes as part of our determined and continuing effort to contain the unemployment malaise.
“ To this end, Management came up with a list of eleven (11) implementable programmes for year 2019. The programmes are namely:National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP); Women Skills Empowerment Programme (WOSEP); Air-conditioning and Refrigeration (Training on Wheels); among others .
He said in all, the programmes will train about 18,000 Nigerians between the 3 to 6 months period they will last, adding that number of beneficiaries for each of the programmes which are the National Industrial Skills Development Programme(NISDP) -11,000, Women Skills Empowerment Programme (WOSEP) -360, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (Training on Wheels)-90.
Others are, Design and Garment Making (Training on Wheels) -90, Skills Training and Empowerment Programme for the Physically Challenged (STEPP-C) -120, Construction Skills Empowerment Programme (CONSEP) -180.
He called for the collaboration of the media “As the most important vehicle for information dissemination, agenda setting and opinion moulding, it is your responsibility to sensitize Nigerians on the importance of the acquisition of technical skills.
“It is equally your responsibility to ensure that Governments at all levels appreciate the critical place of skills acquisition in not just tackling unemployment but also developing their societies as a whole.
“It is vital to emphasise that the Federal Government and its agencies cannot provide jobs for all Nigerians. Indeed, no country whether developed or developing has ever achieved that,” he said.