Port Harcourt — Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon has said that the objectives behind the setting up of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) came in handy after the civil war when government came up with the programme of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction which he said “required a quantum of skilled labour.” He spoke as chairman at the 16th ITF national training conference and exhibition held at the Presidential Hotel in Port Harcourt.
According to him, “as you may recall, the ITF was set up for the sole purpose of facilitating the build-up of skills in the Nigerian economy, particularly in industrial and commercial sectors of the economy as a means of fast-tracking national development. Indigenous manpower was badly needed. In later years, especially in the early 70’s, the civil war programme of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction required a quantum of skilled labour.”
A communique was issued at the end of the three-day workshop with the theme, “Human Resources Development Response To Industrial Growth and National Development”.
While commending the current reform initiatives of government, the conference observed that for “these efforts to achieve desired results as enumerated in the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategies (NEEDS) there must be a radical shift in government’s approach to economic development measures.”
The areas identified for such shift according to the conference include: provision of enabling environment, transparency, accountability, value re-orientation and continuity in policy and programme implementation by government. Conference therefore recommended active Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a vital strategy for sustainable development.
"Conference also commended the concept of Vision 2010 as one of the major attempts at long-term development planning, while noting the courage of government in introducing NEEDS as a definite developmental strategy and recognized the HIV/AIDS pandemic facing the entire world, noting “there is a causal relationship between the HIV/AIDS pandemic and social political crisis that are currently threatening to decimate the stock of human capital.”
Conference called for a “more effective enlightenment campaign, both for the general public and for our educational institutions."
The conference also observed “the critical shortage of skilled technical manpower in the Oil and Gas sector” and considered this as a serious threat to the development efforts of the nation, observing further that for this vital sector to be developed and sustained, there must be definite efforts at producing adequate technical skilled manpower to run the engine of the Oil and Gas industry."
