The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has projected targeted revenues of N66.473 billion, N69.744 billion, and N73.2 billion, respectively, in 2024, 2025, and 2026.
The agency expressed optimism in generating the revenue, having surpassed the N48.873 billion revenue projected for the 2023 fiscal year by raking in N51.344 billion by the third quarter of the year.
Submissions to this effect were made by the Director General of the Fund, Dr Afiz Oluwatoyin Ogun, at an interface with the Senate’s joint committees on Finance, Appropriation, National Planning, Local and Foreign Debts on Tuesday at the National Assembly, Abuja.
The ITF boss, who made the submissions through the Director of Finance and Accounts, Hajia Safiya Atta Mansoor, said out of the generated revenue, N14 billion had been remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, just as 50 per cent of the revenue has been used for the reimbursement of employers of labour.
According to her, ITF’s three sources of revenue are training funds, cost fees, and other income.
In beefing up revenue generation for the agency, the ITF DG informed the committee members that the National Artisans Registration and Development Programme would soon be put in place for the registration of artisans across the country and facilitating their operations corporately.
“Within my short stay in Nigeria, I observed that artisan jobs in the country have been taken over by Beninese, Ghanaians, and Togolese, which should not be so because there is no job Nigerians cannot do.
“To stem the tide, ITF under my leadership, would soon put in place the National Artisans Registration and Development Programme to register our artisans and position them for jobs due to them,” he said.
He added that ITF is a big organisation with 16 directors, two head offices, 41 area offices, five skills and training centres, and 14 vocational skills and training centres.
The joint committee looking into projections made by the executive for the 2022–2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework ( MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper ( FSP), however, tasked the agency to direct its finance department to tidy up slight discrepancies observed in the reports submitted.
The observed discrepancies, as stated by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sani Musa, must be corrected this week before the committee submits its report to the Senate.
