The Industrial Training Fund, ITF, has revealed plans to transform its present Skills Training Centres situated in states equivalent to Lagos, Kano, Kogi, Plateau, the Federal Capital Territory Abuja and the vocational wings hooked up to its Area Offices to hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship (e-Hubs).
The Director-General of the Fund, Mr Joseph Ari disclosed this on the third Annual Forum for Innovation in African Universities in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital with the theme; “Strengthening Africa’s Higher Education in a Post-COVID-19 World.”
Vehicles for innovation
He defined that colleges of Higher Learning in Nigeria and different stakeholders can use the hubs as incubation centres and automobiles for innovation and creativity.
Mr Ari additionally revealed that ITF has made a proper submission to the Federal Government for the institution of Centres for Advanced Skills Training for Employment within the six Geo-political Zones.
According to him, “This can be used for graduate upskilling and reskilling and the overall capacity development of Nigerians in Technical and Vocational Education and Training ,TVET.”
The ITF boss acknowledged that as an establishment that locations a premium on creativity and innovation, the Industrial Training Fund aligns its coverage course to prevailing world traits and authorities coverage thrusts.
He mentioned, “One such policy and vision review is our current policy direction tagged: Re-Engineering Skills for Sustainable Development, which gave birth to the institutionalisation of the National Apprenticeship and Traineeship System (NATS).”
“NATS is a globally accepted scheme to optimise apprenticeship and traineeship and to ensure a seamless transition between formal and informal education and will inevitably lead to the full adoption of National Skills Qualification, which will greatly enhance interaction between industries and academia.”
He mentioned that was not an exhaustive account of improvements that has been embarked upon over time, which is suggestive of the course that the ITF was prepared to take to make sure that innovation and creativity had been institutionalised within the system.
