Plateau seeks ties with ITF to raise solid minerals entrepreneurs
Plateau State has pledged to seek greater ties and collaboration with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to industrialise the state, create jobs and produce entrepreneurs in the solid minerals sector.
Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau State, who spoke at the recently concluded Abuja International Trade Fair, said the state, as the home of solid minerals in Nigeria, would soon establish a minerals processing plant.
Lalong, who was represented by Sonni Tyoden, deputy governor, said training and capacity building of Plateau citizens would be needed to actualise this objective, adding that the state would seek greater ties and collaboration with the ITF to ensure that its citizens acquire vocational and technical skills needed to harness solid minerals.
Harping on training and development as a prerequisite for economic growth and industrialisation, the governor listed some of the proposed minerals abundant in the state as kaolin, gemstone and lime, adding that the government would complete its mineral museum and international lapidary complex to serve as training and laboratory centres.
According to him, establishing mineral processing plants in all localities in the state would help to eliminate bottlenecks associated with processing them abroad, while creating jobs and economic opportunities for the people at the same time.
Private entrepreneurs will be supported by the state to ensure that agricultural products were produced in commercial quantities for the benefit of the state, the governor explained, noting it was in this light that manpower development was imperative.
On his part, Joe Idowu Wenegieme, director- general of Abuja Chamber of Commerce,Industry Mines and Agriculture (ABUCCIMA), said the chambers was pleased with the participation of the ITF in the fair.
Wenegieme said claims of low turnout were out of place, stressing that tickets for visitors to the fair was contracted out this year and the company handling the process did not complain that people did not come.
Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, director-general/chief executive officer, ITF, said the agency’s participation at the Abuja International Trade Fair was one of the ways it was taking the message of skills acquisition to all parts of the country.
Represented by Ifeoma Ihezue, head of public affairs unit of the agency, the ITF’s DG noted that the Fund had initiated many strategies that would eliminate youth unemployment and the challenges of inadequate skills from the country.
According to her, ITF had also created a jobs portal that would connect entrepreneurs and employers with youths, while new trade areas had been introduced to expand access and opportunities for technical and vocational skills acquisition.
The ITF DG further said that the forthcoming National Skills Summit being planned by the agency would change the face of skills acquisition in the country, as the summit which is expected to be declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, would involve all stakeholders within the skills development ecosystem inside and outside Nigeria, and would, for the first time in the history of the country, identify and discuss key issues and proffer lasting solutions to the challenges inhibiting skills development in Nigeria.
ODINAKA ANUDU