TEXT OF AN ADDRESS BY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR LONGMAS SAMBO WAPMUK, THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FUND (ITF), DURING AN INFORMAL MEETING WITH THE NIGERIAN UNION OF JOURNALISTS (NUJ), AT THE CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE, BUKURU, ON 6^TH OCTOBER, 2006

My Dear Friends,

Distinguished Members of the 4^th Estate of the Realm,

My Colleagues in the ITF,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for accepting my invitation to this auspicious meeting.

I consider it a very rare privilege indeed, to have honourable members of the noble profession to give audience to us today. The journalistic space is much awash with a lot of issues of currency; the EFCC scoops, political brickbats in the run up to 2007, international high-wire diplomacy in the Darfur, war of attrition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the unending debacle in the Middle East, rising insurgency in Iraq, nuclear saga in Iran, etc. That you have chosen to be here now is indicative of the very strong relationship between the media and the ITF. It is also a testimony of your keen interest in human resource development, which is the primer for economic growth, prosperity and sustainable development of nations. I therefore, thank you once again for coming.

It was my desire to meet with you much earlier, but the demands associated with settling into a new job and adjusting to a new environment should be familiar to all of us here. However, this did not distract me from realising that the media is one of the most important partners to the ITF in the discharge of its mandate.

As you are aware, the Fund was established to generate a pool of manpower capable of manning the key sectors of industry and commerce. From the records I have seen, and briefings from the Management, I am glad to say that the ITF has discharged this mandate creditably over the years. While I commend the efforts of my predecessors who made this possible, I must acknowledge the role of the media in making it possible for the Fund to reach out to its various audiences with the gospel of training. There is therefore, very good reason for me to sustain this interface between the media and the ITF. I therefore wish to urge members of the media to consider my tenure as a continuation of the good working relationship you have with the Fund.

My appointment as the Director-General of the ITF by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, is in keeping with Federal Government Reform Agenda. While Government continues to give human resource development priority attention, is however, imperative to conduct business not as usual, as Mr. President would always emphasize. In this regard, under my leadership, the ITF would pursue its mandate with even greater passion for success, continuous improvement, innovation and creativity. Transparency, accountability, probity, due process and due diligence would be our guiding principles. We would also, as directed by the Government, ensure the implementation of the Public Service Reform aimed at making the system more efficient with regards to quality service delivery. To this extent, we are concluding the Moneytization exercise in the Fund. Rest assured, the ITF will meet up with its all its obligations regarding the impact of the exercise on its staff.

In pursuing the Reform Agenda of the Federal Government, it must be kept in mind that one the strategic goals is the shift to a private-sector driven economy that would fast-track poverty reduction, wealth creation through gainful employment. It is also the aim of the Reforms that the Nigerian economy is diversified to reduce dependence on export revenue from non-renewable hydro-carbon resources to rapid industrialization based on agriculture and agro-allied products. All these and the current export-orientated policy tagged “Commerce 44”, would hardly be realised without the requisite skills that would add value to the resources. The role of training in the success and sustainability of the Reforms cannot be over emphasized.

I am acutely aware, as all of you may be, of the significance of humans in the creation of the wealth of nations. Yet, it is also true that, only skilled manpower add value on increasing levels. With this in my mind, I would ensure that the ITF not only pursues its manpower training mandate, but also emphasize industrial and vocational skills training in the Nigerian economy. In line with this policy thrust, I will give premium to the renovation, up-grading and priming of our Industrial Skills Training Centres (ISTCs) in Ikeja, Kano and Jos, as well as the completion of the ISTC at Lokoja. We are also leveraging our Business development Service (BDS) to Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) by embarking upon internal capacity building for our SME Crack Team of Trainers. In addition, we have expressed our interest, through a Bid Proposal, to collaborate with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in strengthening/establishment of Entrepreneurial Development Centres (EDCs) in the six (6) Geo-political Zones of Nigeria. Under my leadership, the ITF would ensure that the skills required by industry, commerce as well as the SMEs would be created through quality delivery of need-based training.

Our overall objective is to ensure that the NEEDS objectives and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are achieved through the utilization of highly trained Nigerian workers with cutting edge skills, including proficiency in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). My predecessor had realized the importance of ICT by investing huge resources acquiring hardware and building the Fund’s human capacity in an effort at meeting this challenge. My desire is to deploy such capacity for the training of the Nigerian workers. In addition, I do intend to nudge the Fund towards training in areas hitherto not catered for by the Fund, including the Oil and Gas Sector, Telecommunications, Agriculture, Tourism/Hospitality, etc.

Needless to say, the ITF cannot carry out its mandate alone, even with the passion and commitment of purpose we intend. We would continue with our relationship with the Organised Private Sector through their representatives like the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Manufacturers Association (MAN), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), etc. We would also, strengthen our technical collaboration with counterpart Government agencies, including the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), etc.

Distinguished members of the media, I do not intend to bore you with a long speech. My primary aim was to meet with you and rededicate our commitment to the very good relationship the Fund has with the media. It was also my intention to share with you my vision and mission as the Director-General of the ITF. While hoping that I have achieved what I set out to do, I have no doubt in my mind that you all are convinced that the media has a very important role to play in the discharge of the Fund’s mandate. I therefore expect that you would do your utmost best to help the ITF accordingly. I believe that together we will take the Industrial Training Fund to heights our forebears will be proud of.

Thank you for listening.