No fewer than 20 million Nigerians have been trained by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) since its inception in 1971, the Director General, Mr Joseph Ari has said.
Ari said this Thursday in Enugu during a press briefing and retainer ship exploratory interface with journalists.
The chief executive officer of the fund said that the beneficiaries of the vocational empowerment of the organisation were manning key sectors of the national economy.
He, however, said that in spite of efforts of the organisation in job creation in line with the policies of President Muhammadu Buhari, unemployment had abated.
He said that ITF had re-articulated its activities with greater emphasis on skills acquisition in order to create more jobs and stem rampant unemployment.
He said that their desire was to breed a new generation of entrepreneurs in order to transform the economic landscape of the country.
Ari said that more than two years into the implementation of its review vision that started in 2016 to terminate in 2022, the organisation had exceeded its expectations by training over 450, 000 Nigerians.
“These beneficiaries are today earning sustainable livelihoods as paid employees or as entrepreneurs that are evening employing others,” he said.
He said that their programmes equipped Nigerians in trades and vocations such as welding and fabrication, tailoring and fashion design, plumbing and pipefitting and cosmetology.
Others are event management, poultry farming, bead making, baking and pastry, electrical based vocations and many more.
He said that trainees are also equipped with start-up packs.
“We have resolved to step up our skills acquisition efforts in 2019 so that Nigerians will acquire skills for employability and entrepreneurship.
“In this regard, we will expand intake for our existing programmes and introduce new ones.