ITF, NIPC agree to strengthen capacity of women, youth entrepreneurs

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) are set to sign a memorandum of understanding that will facilitate the training and development of women and youth entrepreneurs in the country.

This development is coming even as the ITF said it was set to host the first ever National Skills Summit that will revive the manpower sector of the nation’s economy and change the face of training, skills development, job creation and entrepreneurship for Nigeria.

Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, chief executive officer, ITF, said this while receiving Uju Hassan Baba, executive secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council, (NIPC), in Abuja.

“The ITF will design specific capacity building programmes to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs operating along the agricultural value chain,” Chukkas-Onaeko said.

The ITF CEO said that the agency was mindful of President Muhammadu Buhari’s disposition towards youth empowerment and job creation in order to address the unemployment challenges facing the country, pointing out that  ITF had realigned some of its activities to make sure the agency was driving change in that direction.

She said capacity building for women entrepreneurs was one of the areas of focus of the ITF, noting that the Fund would also continue to train women and youths in the areas of book keeping, business decision making, and the identification of markets for products.

Pledging to broaden the synergy for general manpower development particularly in the non-oil sectors of the economy, the ITF DG and NIPC executive secretary further noted that the collaboration was critical to an effective local skills and manpower development that could drive the Federal Government’s economic diversification agenda.

According to Chukkas-Onaeko, the agency was working with the agenda of shifting away from the nation’s dependence on oil revenue,  adding that with the abundant manpower deposits in the country, Nigeria could go on to become one the most industrialised nation in the world.

According to her, the ITF had put in place a business training team that could handle the training of women and youth entrepreneurs, disclosing that there would be more than 1,000 trainers to provide services in all sectors of the economy. She further stressed the need for local skill development in other sectors of the economy.

ODINAKA ANUDU