The Director General Industrial Training Fund ITF Afiz Oluwatoyin Ogun has disclosed plans by the government to ensure all artisans in the country are captured in one data and licenced as well.
Ogun disclosed this at the inaugural meeting on the implementation of skills up artisans SUPA programme in Abuja.
He said the process will create a mutually beneficial partnership between ITF and Enlisted Skills Training Centers (ESTCs) through the transformation of the skills acquisition space in Nigeria.
He said: “The government will not recognize or assist any artisan not licensed or captured. He mentioned artisans like hair dressers, carpenter, mechanic, foulknizers and a host of them. This artisans he mentioned keep the wheel of small businesses running and are the heart beat of every nation, as such they should be on top priority list of any nation.
“All artisan in Nigeria no matter the skills should go through data capturing so they can benefit from federal government Skill Up Artisan Programms, the government is also making moves to ensure all artisan businesses are captured.
“The licencing and data capturing will help the government relate with their businesses especially in the area of training. Some selected artisans through these process can be moved to other countries of the world as expatriates. Presently, ITF is building a market place where artisans are easily accessible on request, could be internal request from organizations in the country or request from foreigners.
“Some times names are written and no face to the names, the reason the exercise is to ensure the beneficiaries are real. The DG lamented that investors will come to invest in the country and still go back to their country to import artisans, this he said has to stop.
“Over the last seven months, my team and I have worked assiduously to design and undertake the preparatory work for a specialized program known as Skill Up Artisan (SUPA) to respond to the technical manpower crisis faced by the country as well as escalate vocational training to defeat quackery”.
The Deputy Director, Technical and Vocational Skills, Usman Ibrahim Gano noted that, the SUPA programme is to aid quality service delivery through the Training, Certification and licensing of artisans and to promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises
