The Director-General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ari, has reiterated that skills acquisition is the a major way that the country can bridge the unemployment gap.
Ari said over 33 per cent (representing over 23 million) Nigerians who are desirous to work cannot find jobs, mostly due to the absence of requisite skills.
He said: “Poverty is equally on the rise with some estimates placing the number of Nigerians that are living in poverty to be over 90 million.
“In the face of all these, our population has continued to soar with the World Bank estimating that Nigeria might hit 216 million by the end of this year. “Equally worrisome is the spectre of the ‘out -of- school children’, which according to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is projected to be over 18.5 million.
“Although the Federal Government and, indeed, governments at all levels, have implemented measures to tackle these challenges, it has become increasingly obvious that efforts have to be redoubled by all and sundry for us to effectively rid the country of these challenges.
“It is based on the above and in line with our mandate of Developing a vast pool of skilled manpower sufficient to meet the needs of the public and private sectors of the national economy coupled with resolutions at the recently concluded ITF National Skills Summit in Abuja that we found it imperative to review and refocus our strategies to address the above challenges and to meet the skills requirement of the nation in line with global best practices.
He added: “Our efforts will lead to the development of a robust National Occupational Standard (NOS); create a pool of certified apprentices, technicians and craftsmen as well as assessors and verifiers as well as create a pool of certified learning and development professionals and a regulated skills training environment.”