The Director-General of Oyo State Liaison Office in Abuja and Lagos, Wale Ajani, has advocated for the state indigenes, particularly the youths, on their being part of vocational skill acquisition.
Ajani made the case for Oyo youths during his visit to the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Industrial Training Fund Joseph Ari, in Abuja.
The DG also stressed the need for government at all levels to start looking beyond paper qualifications as criteria to providing employment opportunities for the growing population of youths.
The meeting, which was held at the ITF headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, touched on areas that could be explored in providing vocational skills for youths in the pacesetter state in order to become financially self-independent and productive members of the society.
In his opening address, Ajani listed some strategic efforts of the state governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, and government on human capital development, as well as youths capacity building geared towards self reliance and financial independence.
This includes, among others, the training of over 3,000 youths in various agribusiness fields in Nasarawa state.
The Governor’s aide also said that the conversion of farm settlements to farm estates in Oyo State was targeted at the youths, including young graduates.
He maintained that the investment on youths capacity building and human capital development by the state government was deliberate as it is particularly aimed at expanding agricultural value chain, creating revolving wealth and also young ‘agripreneurs’ (agribusiness entrepreneurs).
Ajani emphasized the need for both ITF and Oyo government to widen their communication and areas of mutual collaboration.
He pointed out that all over the world, developed countries and fast developing nations were putting measures in place to create a balanced society where both formally educated and non-formally educated people would receive the needed vocational and entrepreneurial skills to drive their economy.
Expressing the readiness of the Oyo State Ministry of Commerce and Industry to partner ITF on provision of vocational trainings for youths in the state, Ajani said, human capital development was part of the top priorities of the Seyi Makinde-led administration.
“What our ‘God sent man,’ that’s what we love to call Governor Seyi Makinde because we believe he is our own Biblical Moses whom God has sent to rescue us safely out of Egypt to our promised land, is doing is provide enabling environment for investments and businesses to thrive, develop human capital to drive the expanding economy and make the state more prosperous.
“The Governor himself has given a go-ahead for us his aides, to reach out widely, both within Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, and outside Nigeria with a view to creating more robust relationship that will engender the state economic expansion and growth.
“We believe that ITF will be a strategic partner to the actualization of that mandate. That is why we are here.” Ajani said.
The Director-General Industrial Training Fund, Joseph Ari, in his remarks, expressed delight and described Ajani’s visit as a proactive step and a right move in the right direction.
He spoke about Oyo State truly setting the pace under Governor Seyi Makinde.
Going down the memory lane, Ari gave a background of ITF which was established 51 years ago, 1971 precisely, saying that the Agency was established mainly to generate a pool of indigenous human capital that would enhance economic growth and development of the nation.
The ITF boss explained further that paper qualifications alone could no longer be relied upon to fix all the problems of a nation, hence, the need to address the issues of theory and practice.
He stated that ITF served as a stop-gap for the Nigerian youths to practise their trade and develop themselves for a world of practical experience.
Ari hinted that ITF had brought up a lot of intervention programmes across the nation such as the 300 per state vocational training of young men and women.
This, according to him, was the best way to address youth unemployment and restiveness.
He stressed the need to partner Oyo State but maintained the need for a formal agreement.
He however, tasked the state government to identify trade areas that would be useful and beneficial to its people which youths could be selected to train on.
He explained further that the Agency had entered into an agreement with the Singaporean government to set up Modern Skill Training Centre (MSTC), modular form of training workshops, and International Certificate Examination.
Commending Governor Makinde for his success stories that had continued to spread, as well as his placing premium on human capital development, Ari said that it showed the administration as one that practises emotional intelligence.
Ajani, on behalf of the Oyo State government, and Ari, on behalf of ITF, resolved to identify some training needs of indigenous youths and get them selected for training at the MSTC in Abuja, after which another meeting for a yet-to-be-fixed date was scheduled to officially formalise the training arrangement.
