If the Federal government does not provide enough funds for the upgrade of its skills acquisition centres across the country, the country’s vision of developing a strong manpower base might be a mirage.
This is because the paucity of funds is currently limiting the ability of the Industrial Training Fund to carry out its skills acquisition programme especially at its Abuja office.
The training centre, which was established and patterned after the Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education, currently has 450 students running different programmes.
Although the centre was originally conceived to accommodate 35 programmes, it currently runs five programmes due to financial constraint.
Speaking during the facility tour of the centre by the Singapore High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Shabbir Hassanbhai, the Director-General, ITF, Prof. Longmas Wapmuk, decried the inability of the centre to effectively implement the original design of the programme.
This, he noted, was largely due to space and financial constraint.
He said, “We in the ITF desire that to have a bigger centre here in Abuja. Our desire is to expand the centre to accommodate more trades.
“Our idea is to be offering programmes in more than 15 trade areas, but for lack of space and inadequacy of funds, we make do with the available space which is meant for five trades.
“I wanted more programmes to run but the Institute of Technical Education said it could not take more than five. For us to have a centre that will accommodate all the trades, we will like to acquire new facilities and expand services for our students.”
Hassabhai expressed satisfaction at the services rendered at the centre and promised his country’s readiness to provide technical assistance to the country in the areas of vocational and skill acquisition programmes.
He underscored the importance of vocational skills acquisition for the development of any nation, stating that if the pace of services being rendered at the centre could be maintained and improved upon, it would help to fill the skill gap in the country.
To make meaningful impact on the economy, the ambassador urged government to replicate the centre in the 36 states of the country.
He said, “This is one of the key hallmarks of Singapore’s partnership with Nigeria. We are very happy with the success recorded so far in the centre and we hope that the success story will be replicated in other parts of the country.
“If there is anything else we can do in the business of partnership, we will not hesitate to do it, we desire that the centre be expanded to accommodate more trade.”