The Director General, Chief Executive Officer of Industrial Training Fund ITF, Sir Joseph Ari like a diamond in the sky has defied all gimmicks a public officer in Nigeria was common with or subjected to, as he had defied all efforts that was geared towards cajoling Nigeria’s public officer to disrepute.
His reappointment in 2020 was based purely on merit by turning around ITF from it’s routine statutory responsibility beyond training Nigerians to exploring the need to impact skill acquisition, enterpreneurial development, training and revenue generation.
The giant feat he maintained during his first term between 2016-2020, and consolidated in the last two years after his reappointment at the thick of global pandemic of COVID..
Ari took the agency to the highest ladder of performance, through introduction of meaningful reforms, that placed the agency beyond mere nomenclature of training and re-training, but maintained it’s contributions to national development in all ramifications.
His strides coincided with when countries was battling with not only the global pandemic, but economic downturn and recession that had put both developed and developing countries in a precarious situation.
The template of self employment, skill development, enterpreneurial innovations among many others had prepared both formal and informal sectors engagement outlets to mitigate both natural and artificial occurrences.
The transformation agenda of Joseph Ari in ITF led the turn around of the agency and by extension the entire country through awareness, orientation and reorientation with a view to guaranteeing self sustenance and self reliance in the society.
The chief Executive of industrial Training Fund ITF had created an enabling environment across the country to leverage on the new form of engagement through skill development, acquisition and training along with other outlets of employment.
This is coming at a time when COVID pandemic had done a damaging toll on the economy of countries with Nigeria not in exception, with recurrent job losses put at 33M.
Away from white collar jobs and determination to explore the informal sector obtainable world over, the leadership of ITF introduced the three R’s as a climax to the current order and geared towards mitigating the dire consequences of the two major phenomenon.
The Institutionalisation of the three R’s by the Ari leadership was geared towards demystifying the poverty ridden society to a more productive template aimed at discarding the harsh economic environment among other variables.
With determination, no doubt Nigeria will become one of the nation’s that had explored the hitech skill development and enterpreneurial innovations across the world, convened by the current leadership of Joseph Ari.
These among many others included the massive re-orientation of staffers of the agency, welfare and moral booster through awareness, seminars and symposiums along with their entitlements and remuneration.
As you mark your birthday today , Wednesday 21st December 2022, we prayed for more wisdom and opportunities to detach Nigeria from the current doldrums through your leadership initiatives.
Congratulations and Happy Birthday, wishing you many more years, Sir Joseph Ari, Director General CEO Industrial Training Fund ITF.
Yusuf writes from Abuja and can be reached on [email protected]
