Trend of youths unemployment will be reversed – Minister

THE Minister for State, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Kenneth Kobani has assured that the federal government will reverse the persistent trend of youths unemployment as it has repositioned to strengthen the industrial sector of the country.The Minister of State stated this yesterday during the Industrial Training Fund, ITF 2014 End of Year Merit Award held at the Fund’s headquarters in Jos, the Plateau state capital.Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Amb. Abdulkadir Musa, he added that the federal government is disturbed that despite the efforts put in place to address the issue of lack of gainful employment, the trend persists but government is not deterred in actualizing the mandate of curbing employment.His words, “I am pleased that my first function is to join one of the most important parastatals whose strides have contributed in no small measure to the realization of the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.“We are all familiar with the unemployment situation in the country despite laudable strategies of the federal government. I have been briefed about the mandate by Mr. President for the Industrial Training Fund to train 2million Nigerians annually.“I am equally aware of the achievements the ITF has recorded in the National Industrial Skills Development Programme which has trained over 72,000 Nigerians in two years. We are aware that about 23.8% of our population of about 167million is not gainfully employed.“These are disturbing statistics that the federal government and the Federal Ministry of Industry and Investment are committed to reverse by strengthening and supporting agencies such as the ITF to fully activate their mandate.”Earlier, Director-General of ITF, Mrs. Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko in her remark stated that the Fund has through its 4-point Agenda in 2014 recorded landmark achievements in areas like     technical vocational skills, management and entrepreneurship training.The event also witnessed the presentation of awards to deserving staff as well as goodwill messages from dignitaries including the Chairman of the ITF Governing Council, Dr. Fariah Arebi.