TEXT OF AN ADDRESS BY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, LONGMAS SAMBO WAPMUK, DIRECTOR-GENERAL/CHIEF EXECUTIVE, INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FUND (ITF), AT THE 2006 ITF END OF YEAR REVIEW MEETING HELD AT THE ITF CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE, JOS, ON 5^TH MARCH, 2007.

Directors

Heads of Units

Heads of Divisions

Area Managers and Training Managers

Heads of Training

Area Accountants

My Dear Colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is with great joy that I welcome you all to the 2006 Annual Review meeting. I am particularly delighted for it provides me the opportunity of my maiden Annual Review Meeting, and an occasion to rub minds with very senior officers of the Fund in whose hands the future of the Fund rests.

I am aware that the Review meeting is a platform for us to evaluate our performance in the preceding year and set targets and agenda for the succeeding year. This being so, the 2006 Review Meeting is especially important and seasonable as it is coming in the throes of a restructuring that has brought fundamental changes in the structures and functions of the ITF.

If you recall my speech on assumption of duty, I spelt out a three point agenda – implementing the public service reforms, ensuring probity and accountability, and articulating the ITF Mandate with purpose and passion with a view to imparting cutting edge skills to Nigerian workers.

My dear colleagues, rarely are people asked to assess themselves, but if I am, I would rather err on the side of immodesty by saying that I have performed creditably; but whatever achievements I think I have attained, one owed largely to your overwhelming and unstinting support, individually and collectively.

Such massive and overwhelming support, I could not have believed would be accorded to me when I first assumed duty. Most of you would agree that the first few days on assumption were marked with manifest anxiety and discontentment amongst the workforce that, even the blind, would have perused. I am glad that I have proved a lot of people wrong which perhaps explains your unwavering support.

Ladies and Gentlemen, with this cooperation, I have largely carried through on all my initial targets and promises. We have implemented the public service reforms that have brought into place a new structure and management but, regrettably led to the unavoidable retrenchment of some of our colleagues. Staff promotions that were recurring complaints wherever I visited have also been effected. Nearly every staff of the ITF that was due for the last promotion was considered. Others especially those on Grade Levels 14 – 17 would hopefully benefit when the Ministry would have completed considering our recommendations.

My dear colleagues, you will agree that six months is not enough time to re-orient and re-invent an organization like the ITF. However, in the succeeding months, I intend to continue on the course we have charted for ourselves. As I have always stressed, the need for training targeted at the small and medium scale enterprises would be emphasized. In addition, specific technical skills like welding, plumbing, mecatronics, information technology, etc which are required by our contributing employers and for employability by jobless youths would be stressed. We shall also refocus our energies to servicing the oil and gas sector.

Such training would be impossible to carry out if we do not have the necessary skills to impart them. To this end, staff development would be given a renewed zest. The issue of Crack Teams would, therefore, be revisited albeit with some slight variations. A clearly spelt out parameter for entry and departure from the team would be developed in the next few months. In essence, the Team would require some tinkering with. In this regard, I have scheduled a meeting with the Crack Team Coordinator and the various Team Leaders immediately after the review meeting.

It should be obvious that our targets as earmarked above require an expansive capital outlay. We demand that the Fund’s generous efforts as exemplified by the massive promotions and the intended staff development should be reciprocated by greater hard work and dedication. After all, to whom much is given much is expected.

Although, I have been greatly impressed by the performances of most of us so far, the Fund would demand greater efforts towards levy generation and the recovery of the huge debts owed the Fund by organizations. Without an infusion of cash, we will not be able to see through our vision.

My Colleagues, a common denominator of successful organizations is the discipline of their workforce. That sadly is not the case in the ITF. The state of discipline in the Fund leaves much to be desired. Traits that are abhorred every where else – truancy, lateness to work, loitering, etc – appear to be accepted norms in the Fund. If we aim to be the flagship of the training in Nigeria, such behaviors must not be tolerated. I urge you therefore as Heads of Departments, Heads of Units, Heads of Divisions Area Managers and superiors at all levels to rise collectively and individually against this challenge. I feel the best way of ridding the ITF of such indiscipline is leadership by example. We must, and should be seen as leading the way.

Apart from indiscipline, the malaise of rumour mongering and gossip has blighted most of us. A lot of the imagination that is brought into this, if invested in our work, would have put the ITF ahead of all other training institutions. I hate to say that, but the gossips and rumour mongers are so imaginative that they go about town on issues that management has not considered or even contemplated. Apart from engendering disaffection within the system, it disrupts team work and tarnishes the image of the Fund. I appeal to all of us to cure ourselves of these debilitating ailments. I must say they are curable.

Another thing I have observed is the unhealthy gap between instructions and execution. It is appalling that, actions that should ordinarily take some few hours end up for several weeks on somebody’s table. Also, related to this is the ‘missing file Syndrome’. Files do not have legs, but in the ITF, occasionally they develop legs and walk. We must, as a body, stand up against these. Appropriate disciplinary actions on officers found to be culpable of such acts should be brought to bear.

Dear colleagues, as we assess ourselves, it is imperative that we redouble our efforts and commit ourselves to stemming the blights that threatened what otherwise was a fruitful year. On this note, I wish to thank you once more for your dedication and commitments so far.