Joseph Ntung Ari is the Director- General/Chief Executive of the Industrial Training Fund, an organisation saddled with manpower development and skill acquisition in Nigeria. In this interview with TOBA AGBOOLA, he shed light on how the Fund has been supporting the government’s initiatives on job creation, migration of Nigerian youths and how to address the problem, among other issues. Excerpt:
How has the agency been able to key into the Federal Government’s initiatives to tackle unemployment?
In recognition of our efforts to tackle unemployment, the Federal Government recently commissioned the Fund to come up with multi-faceted job creation strategies that would lead to a lasting solution to this hydra-headed problem of unemployment. The report is currently undergoing consideration by the Presidency.
The proposal showed that in the area of agriculture, which is the major pre-occupation of Nigerians and a key focus of the Next Level Agenda, a total of 150,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created along the agricultural value chain. The target will be achieved through the implementation of the programmes such as the Vegetable Value Vantage (TRIPLE V), Livestock Production (LIPRO) and Women Driven Agric Mechanisation Programme (WODAMP). In the construction sector, over 18 million direct and indirect jobs will be created for Nigerians using two main initiatives, that is the Mass Housing Development Projects (MAHODEP) and the Infrastructural Maintenance of Government Structures (IMOGS). The transport sector will also contribute over 800,000 jobs through the Rural Transportation Empowerment Programme (RUTEP) and the Mega City Travel. For the services sector, about 200,000 Nigerians will be equipped with skills in Auto-Diagnostics and Services (ADASE), Environmental Waste Management (EWAM), Renewable Energy Services (RES), Creative Arts and Digital Media Programme (CADMEP) and Service Hubs (SE-HUB). In all, a total of about 20 million direct and indirect jobs will be created through these initiatives.
For the beneficiaries, you must resolve to make the most of the opportunity provided by ITF skills acquisition programmes and should also ensure that you use the start-up kits that will be presented to you, not only put food on your family tables but also make meaningful contribution to the Nigerian economy. Similarly, parents and guardians have to begin to see hands-on skills as vocations and as real alternatives that could lead to a meaningful life. The era of white-collar jobs for all by government is well and truly over. The perception that hands-on skills are dirty and a preserve of the illiterate and never-do-wells in our society must change. Parents and guardians must therefore encourage their wards to acquire skills.
One of the mandates of the Industrial Training Fund is for the youth to be self reliant in terms of skills acquisition, what is your organisation doing to stem this development?
Solution to the rising migration of Nigerian youths lies in skill acquisition. We are disturbed by this ugly trend and reports of mass casualties on the high seas, enslavement and other harrowing misfortunes being experienced by Nigerian youths seeking to migrate to Europe. The ITF is appealing to stakeholders to collaborate with ITF in order to equip more Nigerians with skills for employability and entrepreneurship. Equipping Nigerians with relevant skills is not only in line with the Federal Government’s efforts to create jobs, but would stem the current wave of migration, especially by the youth. I keep wondering why the mass migration despite the fact that several surveys by the ITF and other organisations have revealed that skills gaps exist that were being filled by foreigners. It is with a view to equipping Nigerians with skills to fill these existing vacancies that the ITF has embarked on a number of initiatives and expanded existing programmes to ensure that more Nigerians are empowered with skills to check unemployment and promote entrepreneurship. Some of the programmes include the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), Passion to Profession, Training on Wheels Using Mobile Training Units, the Women Skills Empowerment Programme (WOSEP), the Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP) as well as the Vulnerable and Indigent Youth Empowerment Programme (VIYEP) amongst several others.
The National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) has been on for some time now. What have been the achievements so far?
The National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) is one of the numerous skills acquisition intervention programmes introduced and implemented by the ITF, to facilitate the achievement of the Buhari administration’s policy on job and wealth creation. It focuses on skills acquisition to create jobs to stem rampant unemployment and breed a new generation of entrepreneurs, in order to transform the economic landscape of the country. Within the last three years, the ITF, through the NISDP and other skills acquisition programmes, equipped over 450,000 Nigerians nationwide with skills for employability and entrepreneurship.
Several thousands of these beneficiaries were from all the states and were equipped with requisite skills in various trades and crafts. They include welding and fabrication, plumbing and pipe-fitting, tailoring, aluminum, tiling, Plaster of Paris (PoP) as well as photography that were carefully selected based on their potential to directly impact the economy of the state and the country in general. Except for Gombe State, all the beneficiaries from the other states were empowered with start-up packs to start their businesses.
This year, we have also commenced the implementation of the 2019 NISDP and other skills acquisition programmes in Gombe State and other States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the 2019 Skills Intervention programmes.
What is the ITF doing in view of the renewed effort by the Federal Government to unlock the MSMEs sub-sector?
I would say that as the leading capacity building institution in Nigeria, we perhaps had realised the importance of the MSMEs earlier, and commenced a number of initiatives that are targeted at driving the sub-sector. Our target is to ensure that our trainees become entrepreneurs rather than employees. Similarly, in the ITF reviewed vision; strategies for mandate actualisation, a home grown four-year plan that management unveiled on my assumption of duty, the development of MSMEs sub-sector occupy a prominent place. The plan has quick wins, medium and long term goals. These are efforts that the ITF is undertaking. The presidential charge is, therefore, a validation of our efforts and shall spur us to do more.
What do you consider to be the most significant impediment to a vibrant MSMEs sub-sector?
During the inauguration of the National Council on MSMEs, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, identified access to finances, access to markets, weak business development, dearth of technical skills, lack of infrastructure and insufficient market information as major obstacles to the growth of the sub-sector. From our interactions with operators, the Vice President captured the core of their problems. The questions that immediately come to mind are these: Why does it take so long for a potential operator to secure loans in Nigeria for instance, as compared to his colleagues in other countries? Why is it so difficult for him or her to secure financing or even register their business? These challenges the Federal Government has promised to solve, but what I think is the most formidable obstacle is the absence of the right skills by most operators in the sub-sector. Most of them are poorly educated and lack the basic knowledge of running a business and source financing. Some are even bereft of the skills to keep records.
It is with these in mind that all our training, particularly those targeted at the MSMEs have business management elements. Under the NISDP, a three-month skills acquisition programme that is directly targeted at instilling the youths with skills for employability and entrepreneurship, several weeks of the programme are dedicated to teaching trainees how to develop business plans, source financing, basic accounting and general requirements for management of a successful business. To my mind, this is the reason why most graduands of the scheme today are successful entrepreneurs
Under the Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP), which the ITF implements in collaboration with the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) for the training of middle level manpower and potential entrepreneurs, business education is also a significant component of the one year training programme. The same elements have been introduced into other short term technical skills acquisition programmes. This is even as we have stepped up our engagement programmes with MSMEs. All these are geared towards strengthening the sector as we believe that having access to capital and a bankable proposal are not certainties that you will be successful in your business without the requisite technical and managerial skills.
In the light of the Federal Government’s emphasis on MSMEs, do we see the ITF doing more?
Yes, beyond the vice president’s charge, there are obvious problems in the national economy that will be helped, or even perhaps be solved by a vibrant MSMEs sub-sector.
Take unemployment as a case in point, as I had earlier mentioned, the MSMEs are the highest employers of labour in the country even in the state they are today, with the ease of financing, better information systems and the right technical skills, they are likely to employ more. The MSMEs are clearly the most veritable vehicle for job creation, national growth and development. As an institution vested with the mandate to train Nigerians, we have no choice but to do more. In recognition of this, we have concluded plans to expand our existing initiatives, especially those targeted at capacity building for MSMEs.
The Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP) will also be expanded to more centres from its present 16 while stepping up our MSMEs advisory services. In addition, we have commenced two new initiatives called Women Skills Entrepreneurship Programme (WOSEP) and the Graduates Re-Skilling Programme.
ITF seems to have its hands in so many things. What is the core mandate of the Fund?
The mandate of the Industrial Training Fund imposes on us the responsibility to provide and promote the acquisition of skills in order to generate a pool of qualified Nigerians to man all sectors of the national economy. This is the mandate we have been charged with, and have pursued all through the years of our existence. The MSMEs is one sub-sector that has been given critical consideration in this pursuit. Our emphasis on the development of the MSMEs is premised on the belief that they are the engines of growth of any economy – be they developed or developing. Most of the countries that are today considered part of the first world like Brazil, China, India and Singapore to mention but a few, rode on the back of a vibrant and strong MSMEs sub-sector to be what they are today. In most countries, they (MSMEs) are the highest GDP earners and highest employers of labour.
In Nigeria, for instance, it contributes about 48.7 per cent to the GDP and employs over 59 million Nigerians. It is, therefore, a critical sector that could only be ignored at our own peril, especially now that the country is striving to create jobs and combat unemployment, ensure the environment for inclusive growth and generally diversify the economy.
What are the dynamics and innovations you have brought into the system, especially on the image of ITF since your primary assignment then were to sell ITF to the world?
As the Head of Public Affairs, I introduced the re-branding philosophy, which saw members of staff re-oriented to provide quality service to clients of the Fund. The policy also engaged external stakeholders, thus paving the way for increased support and collaboration for smooth implementation of the ITF Act. I was also at different times the Director of Administration and Human Resource Department, Corporate Planning Department and the Director Business Training Development Department at the ITF Headquarters. Also, a onetime Chairman of the Fund’s Training and Research Committee, (T&RC) of Management. All these before my appointment in 2017 as the Director General of the Industrial Training Fund. I started as a journalist and still cherish this background; I am still a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), a Fellow of the Corporate Administration Institute and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR). Recently, I concluded my two terms as a member of the institute’s
Who is Sir Joseph Ari and what is your background like?
I have a very humble background; I am a holder of the West African School Certificate, Diploma in Broadcast Journalism, Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Post Graduate Diploma in Management. I also hold a degree in Law (LL B (Hons.), a Masters Degree in Law LLM, and Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA). My work career spans a period of over three decades, covering different spheres of disciplines and human endeavour.
What are your work experiences, before you got to this level?
For my earlier background in journalism, I started as a broadcaster from the scratch at the Plateau Broadcasting Corporation as a news reporter/presenter; had a stint with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Lagos as a newscaster and subsequently moved over to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) as a News Editor/Caster. My work career took me to the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria, (NICON) where I was the Public Relations Manager, North. From there I came home and was appointed as the Director of Press and Public Affairs to two Governors of Plateau State before another appointment as the Sole Administrator and later General Manager of the Plateau Publishing Company, (PPC) Jos.
Thereafter, I was reassigned to the Plateau Radio Television Corporation, (PRTVC), as General Manager. To date, I remain the first Plateau citizen to have headed the two state media outfits at different times. When I was thinking that I had completed the cycle of public service at the state level, I was appointed Permanent Secretary in charge of Government House Administration; a position I held until the Federal Government appointed me as a Deputy Director in the Department of Public Relations, External Affairs and Publicity of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, a grade ‘A’ Federal Government Parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
Leave a Reply