Wale Ajani, Director-General of Oyo State Liaison Office, Abuja and Lagos, has tasked the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) on training youths from the state on vocational skills acquisition.
He made the case when he visited the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of ITF, Joseph Ari, in his office at Abuja.
Ajani stressed the need for government at all levels to start looking beyond paper qualifications as criteria to providing employment opportunities for the increasing population of youths.
The meeting touched on areas that could be explored in providing vocational skills for youths in Oyo State in order to become financially self-independent and productive members of the society.
Ajani listed some strategic efforts of the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration on human capital development as well as youths capacity building, geared towards self-reliance and financial independence
He said this include, among several others, training of over 3000 youths in various agribusiness fields in Nasarawa state.
The governor’s aide also said the conversion of farm settlements to farm estates in the state was targeted at the youths, including young graduates.
He said the investment on youths capacity-building and human capital development by the Oyo State government was deliberate.
He said it was particularly aimed at expanding agricultural value chain, creating revolving wealth and also young agribusiness entrepreneurs.
Ajani also stressed the need for both the ITF and Oyo government to widen its communication and areas of mutual collaboration.
He said developed countries and fast developing nations are putting measures in place to create a balanced society where both formally and non-formally educated people receive the needed vocational and entrepreneurial skills to drive their economies.
Ajani expressed the readiness of the Oyo State Ministry of Commerce and Industry to partner the ITF on provision of vocational trainings for youths in the state.
He also said human capital development is part of the top priorities of the Seyi Makinde-led administration.
“What our God-sent man (that is what we love to call Governor 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 to 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 to both the federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) 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 ITF Director-General, Joseph Ari, in his remarks, expressed delight described Ajani’s visit as a proactive step and right move in the right direction.
He said Oyo State is truly setting the pace under the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde.
Going down memory lane, Ari said ITF, which was established 51 years ago, was established mainly to generate a pool of indigenous human capital that would enhance economic growth and development of the country.
The ITF boss said paper qualifications alone can no longer be relied upon to fix all the problems of a nation, hence, the need to address the issues of theory and practice.
Ari stated that ITF served as a stop gap for the Nigerian youths to practice their trade and develop themselves for a world of practical experience.
He said ITF had brought up a lot of intervention programmes across the country, including the 300 per state vocational training of young men and women which he said was the best way to address youth unemployment and youth restiveness.
He stressed the need to partner Oyo State but maintained the need for a formal agreement between ITF and the state.
He also tasked the state government to identify trade areas that youths can be selected for vocational training on and which would be useful and beneficial to the people of the state.
Ari revealed that ITF 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.
He commended Governor Makinde for his success stories that have continued to spread and placing premium on human capital development.
He noted that this showed that the present administration in Oyo State is a government that practices emotional intelligence.
