The Federal Government on Wednesday expressed worry over the rising level of poverty and unemployment in the country.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, expressed the concern at the 2021 ITF Review Meeting and Merit Award ceremony which held in Jos, on Wednesday.
He, however, assured Nigerians that everything possible was being done by the federal government to address the problem
The two-day event which ended on Wednesday at the ITF’s headquarters was attended by different stakeholders including traditional rulers, youths, entrepreneurs, security agents, the Governor of Plateau State and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, among others.
The Minister said, “Of great concern to the federal government is the need to urgently address the rising tide of unemployment and poverty in the country today. It is in this regard that the federal government recently unveiled several initiatives including the National Development Plan (NDP), 2021-2025. The Government believes that for these programmes to be fully achieved, organisations like the ITF have a vital role to play, especially in the area of human capacity development for Nigerians.”
The Minister who was represented by a director in the Ministry, Ndakoko Mohammed, described capacity building as key to ending the many socio-economic challenges facing the country.
He urged the ITF to continue with the tempo of their activities even as they reach out to other agencies of government, especially those with similar mandates, to enable the government to resolve the problems facing the country
He also called on the state governments, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations and other well-meaning Nigerians to continue to collaborate with the ITF to end the problems of poverty and unemployment in the country, saying that “I firmly believe that if we pull together as one people, we will successfully overcome all the problems that we are contending with”.
Earlier, the Director General of the Industrial Training Fund, Joesph Ari, said the ITF Merit Award Ceremony “provides us with the platform to present our scorecard, recognise and celebrate staff and other stakeholders whose individual and collective contributions were invaluable to the achievements of our corporate targets in the preceding year”.
Ari vowed that ITF under his leadership would leave no stone unturned until the federal government achieves its objectives of ending poverty and unemployment among Nigerians.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
