ITF vows to make trainees global talents with international certifications

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) says it will ensure that its trainees receive international certifications, enabling them to work anywhere in the world.

Hafiz Ogun, the director general of the ITF made this announcement on Tuesday in Jos, during a visit by the Alberk QA Technic Istanbul management team, who were conducting a facility assessment of selected ITF training centres for the Skill Up Artisans (SUPA) certification.

The visit was the culmination of a skill-up artisan programme from training to certification.

The Director General noted that this Istanbul-based certification group is the second to visit the fund, assessing its facilities and recommending them for International Standard Organisation (ISO) certification.

He emphasised that these efforts align with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to upskilling Nigerian artisans and providing them with international certifications.

“The President has asked me, through the Ministry of Trade and Investment, that after you are trained, you will be certified and will be given a bouquet to start up.

“With us here is Alberk QA Technic, Istanbul, and we are expecting others to give our trainees international certification so that they will match their peers anywhere in the world.

“In line with the above, 24,000 intending artisans have already been deployed across the states of the federation,” he said.

Read also: NYSC, ITF, NIS partner Dangote Cement on youth development

Latif Yilmaz, Alberk QA Technic Global Chief Executive Officer, said in his remarks that Nigeria was blessed with abundant natural resources such as petroleum, gas, and all types of agricultural resources, including many others but the country has a challenge with human resources and has been unable to efficiently utilise the resources.

“This is crucial because the future depends entirely on human capital. Without skilled people, nothing else holds value.

“Therefore, we aim to increase the capacity of individuals and develop their skills so that they can contribute to the development of industrial areas, social services, and agriculture.

“I believe this new programme will be a significant innovation for Nigeria. I hope it will be very successful in shaping Nigeria’s future, and we are very happy to be part of this SUPA programme,” he added.

Ameh said that the ITF mandate was to set training standards as well as evaluate and certify, but the infrastructure for that was not yet in place.

“We are here to help ITF prepare in line with ISO standard 17024, which is the general requirement for the certification of persons.

“What we are doing is going from one vocational centre to the other to assess them, prepare them, and make them examination centres.

“The standard makes room for a lot of criteria that need to be met, and part of the structural resources, records, and certification system is paramount.

He explained that without the system in place, artisans would not be certified, emphasising that anyone seeking certification must adhere to ITF regulations.

According to him, ITF would also assist in preparing the necessary requirements for certification, in accordance with the International Labour Organisation’s Standard Classification of Occupations.