November 3, 2017

The Director General (DG) of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mr Joseph Ari, said on Friday in Gombe that fund had commenced training of 11,000 youths nationwide in 30 trades.

Ari said this during the openining of the training programme for the benefiting 500 youths chosen from the state.

The director general said that the beneficiaries were between the ages of 18 and 35 and the exercise would last for three months.

He said that the ITF would give starter parks to 300 of them while the Gombe Government would provide for the remaining 200 after their graduation.

The DG listed the trades in which they were being trained in to include, welding and fabrication, tailoring and fashion design, plumbing and pipe fitting, among others.

“These trades were chosen based on the fact that they are lacking in the Nigerian economy. We have consistently brought in foreign nationals from neighboring countries to do these jobs.

“This is not acceptable, we also work at the projected value addition to the beneficiaries and their potentials to provide sustainable means of livelihood for themselves on graduation,” he said.

The Governor of the state, Ibrahim Dankwambo, urged youths in the youths to utilise the opportunity provided by the ITF to acquire skills to be self-reliant.

Dankwambo said that such skills would make them employers of labour and not job seekers as well as boost the revenue profile of the state.

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Charles Iliya, said his administration focused on youth empowerment, and commended ITF for the good job it was doing in the country.

In his speech, Malam Faruk Yarma, the state Commissioner for Youth Empowerment, said that this was the second phase of the training in Gombe state.

Yarma said centers for the training were located in the three senatorial districts of the state and during the training period each of the trainees would be given N10, 000 as monthly allowance.

“ITF will be giving the trainees N5, 000 and the state government will provide the remaining N5, 000,’’ he said.

He warned the beneficiaries to be punctual to the training, adding that the trainees that would be given the starter parks were only those with 70 per cent attendance at the end of the exercise.