TEXT OF ADDRESS BY
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
LONGMAS SAMBO WAPMUK,
DIRECTOR-GENERAL/CHIEF
EXECUTIVE, INDUSTRIAL
TRAINING FUND, AT THE ITF 2006
ANNUAL AWARD CEREMONY
AT THE CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE, BUKURU JOS ON 7TH MARCH, 2007
Protocols
I welcome you all to the 2006 End of Year Review and Award Ceremony of the ITF.
I feel particularly delighted as it provides me the first
real opportunity of interacting with a broad section of the Fund’s stakeholders
since I assumed duty as Director General of
PREAMBLE
I am aware that the ITF Annual Award is a celebration of
excellence of members of the ITF workforce and other stakeholders whose
distinguishing performance in the preceding year are deserving of recognition.
The import of this day is that hard work, commitment and
distinctive performance will always be recognized and rewarded. Such
recognition of a few among a broad stratum of hardworking and committed people,
is designed to serve dual purposes: to motivate the beneficiaries to greater
heights of excellence, and to challenge those who did not win to strive harder.
Apart from providing a platform for celebration of
distinction, the Award ceremony affords us an opportunity to highlight our performances
as a corporate body in the preceding year.
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, May I
therefore proceed to declare our performances as an organization in the year
2006:
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
REFORMS
On assumption of duty in August 2006, I pledged to implement
the reform programme with emphasis on tackling corruption, promoting
transparency and accountability.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the ITF I met on assumption was
lagging behind other government agencies in its implementation of the Federal
Government reform agenda. We had to fast track the reform processes in order to
beat the deadline of 31st December 2006 for the completion of the
first stage of the reforms. I must commend the unstinting support of the
management and staff, especially the in-house labour Unions who supported
unreservedly even when the work force had to be down sized in line with the
reform guidelines.
The reform
exercise also yielded a new administrative structure for the fund. The Fund
which used to have nine Departments now has six new Departments and three
Units; most with new nomenclatures. The Departments and Units are as follows:
(i)
Industrial
Training Development Department replaces Vocational Apprentice Training
Department.
(ii)
Business
Training Development Department replaces Training and Development Department.
(iii)
Department
of Consultancy, Research and Information Technology replaces Research and
Consultancy Department,
(iv)
Field
Services Department replaces Industrial Attachment, Grants and Reimbursement
Department.
(v)
Finance
Department now becomes Department of Finance and Accounts
(vi)
Department
of Administration and Human Resource replaces Department of Administration.
In addition, erstwhile Departments of Public Relations and
Audit have joined the Legal and Council Affairs Unit as Units under the
Directorate. The Corporate Affairs Department was scrapped.
Your Excellency, Honorable Minister, Distinguished Ladies
and Gentlemen, our commitment to the implementation of the reforms was informed
by the need to provide more effective training to persons in industry and
commerce so as to build a private sector capable of taking advantage of the
opportunities that abound in the domestic, regional and global markets.
STIMULATION OF
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIVITY
The Fund’s commitment to reform in 2006 did not distract it
from its primary responsibility, which is boosting productivity through
enhanced capital development. In all facets of its activities and services, the
Fund recorded marked successes. In the identification of training needs of
organizations, ITF achieved a success rate of 68.3 per cent in 2006 as against
33.8 percent in 2005. Remarkable achievements were also recorded in the
undertaking of in-depth diagnostic studies in Small and Medium Scale
Enterprises (SMEs). The Fund returned an impressive 94.6 per success rate last
year as compared to 83.7 per cent in 2005. As a consequence of these gains, the
organization developed 23 new packages to address the needs that emerged.
Within the same period, the Fund implemented 425 training programmes that
attracted 6,648 participants from 1,368 organizations in the country.
Other activities of the Fund like In plant training,
Apprenticeship Training Services, Installation and Harmonization of
Apprenticeship Training programmes and monitoring of training programmes
recorded remarkable gains.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, our commitment this year
is to outstrip this level of performance. In this regard, training targeted at
the SMEs would be a priority. As you are aware, SMEs have proven to be a
regular pivot of accelerated growth of economies. Its import has been made more
significant as it provides a platform for the breeding of entrepreneurial
talents and managerial skills and the basis for industrial expansion, economic growth
and sustainable development. In realization of its place, and the fact that the
various agencies established by the
federal government have tended to operate independently thus inhibiting the desired synergy and optimum impact they
could bring to bear on SMEs in the economy, the ITF has offered itself as a
bridge for such a synergy. Early this year, the ITF presented a proposal at the
inaugural Small Business Forum organized by the Commonwealth Business Council
in 2006 for networking amongst SMEs in
I am pleased
to inform you that the proposal has kick started consultation; the latest being
a meeting of the working committee on SMEs development in
To further
provide fillip to our clients and the SMEs, the Fund would work towards
expanding its skills training infrastructure. To this end, efforts would be
stepped towards the upgrading and expansion of our existing skills centres in
Ikeja,
SIWES
The Fund stepped up its SIWES operations in 2006. The Fund disbursed N 1,623,445,375 as SIWES
allowances to students and supervisors. A break down of the figures shows that
the sum of N719, 614,000m was disbursed among 50,275 university undergraduates
while N368, 277,000 was shared among 37,403 polytechnic students. 22.180
students of accredited courses in Colleges of Education benefited from the sum
N220, 260,000 while supervisory allowances came to about N105, 048,375.
The Fund’s performance rate in the SIWES orientation
exercise rose to 91.4 per cent from 82.8 per cent in 2005 while the success
rate of the SIWES Zonal Meetings stood at 91.7 per cent.
In addition, The Fund, in the year under review, continued
to canvass for the enshrinement of cooperative education into our school
system. The Fund’s campaign was primed on the fact that work integrated
learning, which is the primary outcome of cooperative education would enhance
mutual integration symbioses between industry and school. The ITF will continue to canvass for a
cooperative education because of its huge benefits.
REIMBURSEMENT:
In keeping with its statutory obligation of reimbursing
contributing employers that trained workers according to ITF guidelines, in the year
under review, the ITF processed and paid out over N1, 036, 320, 418.44 to 233
companies, an improvement from the181 companies that were reimbursed in 2006.
The increase in the reimbursement could be attributed to the coming to force of
the 5th Reimbursement Scheme and eleven workshops that were
conducted by ITF for Reimbursement
schedule officers.
This year, it is our desire to further improve the process
so that more companies would benefit from it. To this end, we have concluded
plans for on-line processing of reimbursement claims.
INTERNAL
Cognizant of the need of staff of the Fund to be fully
trained to effectively deliver on the Organization’s mandate, staff training is
prioritized. The year under review was not any different. Several members of
the Fund’s workforce were sent on long and short-term courses. The ITF Crack
Teams – a core of well-trained in-house professionals- were constituted.
Various teams were sent on Courses, Workshops and Seminars both locally and
overseas. The outcome of the tour of our crack team on SMEs to
STAFF WELFARE
Your Excellency, Honorable
minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, the achievements in the year under review could
not have be attained without the commitment and hard work of the Fund’s
workforce. To sustain such level of achievement, the workforce must continually
be motivated. Against this realization, the ITF promoted and upgraded over 648
staff. Most of those that benefited were supposed to have been promoted in 2005
or earlier but for some reason were not. It is the ITF’s desire that from now
onwards, staff that merit such promotion would be elevated as at when due.
CONCLUSION
Your Excellency, Honorable minister, ladies and gentlemen,
2006 was a hugely successful year for the ITF. Achievements were recorded in
nearly all areas of the Fund’s activities and we assure that the momentum would
be sustained.
These
achievements would not have been possible without contribution of individuals
and agencies that relate with the ITF. Our thanks go to the OPS who have shown
so much support and understanding; we thank employees of labour for their
responsiveness. We look forward to your continuous response to the call for
training and remittance of contributions to the ITF. We thank all stakeholders
in SIWES for co-operating with the Fund in running the Scheme without hitches.
To the Honorable Minister, we cannot thank you enough for creating the enabling
environment for own operations as well as guiding us on a proper course. Our
gratitude also goes to the Government and people of
Finally, I
thank all my colleagues in the Fund, the ITF management team and all other
staff who worked tirelessly with commitment and sincerity of purpose for the
Fund to attain such achievements. May I, at this juncture, on behalf of myself,
the Management and the entire members of staff of the Fund, extend gratitude to
our distinguished guests for finding time, despite tight schedules to be with
us on this memorable occasion. I pray that the Almighty God grants you all safe
journey back to your respective destinations.
Thank you and May God
bless you.
Assoc. Prof. Longmas Sambo Wapmuk,
Director General/ Chief Executive,
Industrial Training Fund.