ITF MOBILE WORKSHOP- TACKLING UNEMPLOYMENT IN AN UNUSUAL WAY

The Federal Government had in 2013 imported three mobile workshop vans to equip young Nigerians across the country with relevant industrial skills as ways of combating unemployment and bridging the skills gap in the industrial sector of the economy.
The vans, which the Director General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Joseph Ari, said cost Nigeria ‘billions of naira’ to be imported from Brazil was abandoned for four years until recently.
The ITF has finally put the vans to use as they were unveiled to the media in Abuja in a move targeted at halting the skyrocketing rate of unemployment in the country.
The unemployment rate in Nigeria hit eight-year high, rising to 14.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2016 from 10.4 per cent a year earlier.
The data sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that the latest unemployment rate is the highest rate since 2009 as the number of unemployed went up by 3.5 million to 11.55 million.
The unemployment rate was higher for persons between 15 and 24 years (25.2 per cent), women (16.3 per cent) and in rural areas (25.8 per cent).
These startling statistics explain why it is important to take industrial skills capacity development to the youths in the rural areas across the country using mobile workshop method as experimented in other countries such as Brazil and Japan.
The ITF has already started the training of 100 mostly young Nigerians using the mobile vans on garment making, image consulting and fashion designing.
Daily Trust monitored the official take-off of the training in one of the vans with 20 trainees in Abuja.
The second van, which is a mobile air-conditioning and refrigeration workshop, has also been put to use, while the third one has been rolled out to rural areas for a similar purpose.
The ITF boss, Ari, said by rolling out the mobile workshops, Nigeria was following the example of Saini of Brazil, which is the bedrock of Brazilian economy.
He said Nigeria decided to learn from Brazil where such mobile workshops were built on canoes and vans to access remote areas and train residents on skills for self-development and employment.
“The ITF is rolling out strategies to actualise its vision, including the deployment of these vans to local areas in our communities. The aim is to serve as an intervention programme of the Federal Government’s economic recovery and growth plan,” he said.
To actualise the training, the ITF went into partnership with the Lagos-based fashion designing company, Style House Limited, to conduct the training across the country.
The trainer from the company, Omowunmi Akere, told Daily Trust that the training had been packaged in three segments: garment fabrication, image consulting and fashion designing.
She said, at the end of the three-week period of the training for the current 20 intakes, they would be able to set up their own fashion design outfits and create employment for themselves and others.
She further said the ultimate goal was for them to create a local brand that would have international acceptance.
The ITF boss said the trainees would be given starter packs to enable them set up at the end of their training.
Speaking on the significance of the mobile workshops to the Nigerian economy, the Special Assistant to the Vice President on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Tola Johnson, said the mobile workshops had the potential of creating huge jobs across the country.
He lamented the long time wasted before the mobile workshops were deployed into use and made a case for replication of the initiative at the sub-national levels.
The pioneer trainees, who spoke with Daily Trust, expressed optimism that the skills they had started acquiring would change their lives for the better.
One of the trainees, Mrs. Caroline Ogunsulire, said she applied for the training at no cost and was fortunate to have been selected among the lucky 100 that made the selection process.
Ogunsulire said the training would be a life-changing opportunity which she would use to set up her own business upon completion.
She urged young Nigerians to acquire skills or go for entrepreneurial development as white-collar jobs were becoming increasingly unavailable.
“My aim is to establish my own business and help people around me. Not everyone will be privileged to be here to learn but we can teach others when we graduate,” Ogunsulire said.
The ITF said it housed, transported and fed the trainees at no cost to them.