Tinubu Ends Skills Sector Overlap, ITF Takes Informal Sector Lead

By Our Correspondent

President Bola Tinubu has directed the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to regulate and coordinate activities in Nigeria’s informal skills sector as part of efforts to address the country’s employment needs and eliminate overlapping responsibilities among government agencies.
The Director-General of ITF, Dr. Afiz Oluwatoyin-Ogun, disclosed this in Abuja during a joint news conference with the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof. Idris Bugaje. He explained that the directive followed the President’s decision through the National Council on Skills (NCS) to clearly define the roles of agencies within Nigeria’s skills development ecosystem.
Dr. Oluwatoyin-Ogun said only about seven percent of Nigerians are engaged in white-collar jobs, while the remaining 93 percent operate within the informal sector, making collaboration between ITF and NBTE essential. He noted that the initiative would support President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by tackling unemployment, promoting industrialisation, boosting skills export, improving Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and driving national economic development. He also urged artisans to take advantage of government programmes designed to improve their productivity and livelihoods.
On his part, Prof. Idris Bugaje said NBTE would focus on regulating skills education in polytechnics, colleges and other technical institutions, while ITF would oversee the skills development needs of graduates after leaving school. He described vocational and technical skills as vital to job creation, wealth generation, poverty reduction and economic growth, and pledged continued collaboration between NBTE and ITF to strengthen Nigeria’s skills ecosystem in line with international best practices.