FED GOVT MOVES TO LICENCE ARTISANS.(PHOTO).

Fed Govt moves to licence artisans

The director general of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Afiz Oluwatoyin Ogun, on June 25, disclosed that all artisans in Nigeria no matter the skills should go through data capturing and ensure their businesses are licensed.

He said the licencing and data capturing will help the government relate with their businesses and train them, some selected artisans through these processes can be moved to other countries of the world as expatriates.

ITF is building a marketplace where artisans are easily accessible while creating a help desk where they can reach out to each other for any form of help.

He said the organization has gone around the six geopolitical zones, and interviewed artisans to ensure those that registered so far are not robots.

The government regrets that investors will come to invest in the country and still go back to their country to import artisans, which he said has to stop.

The DG disclosed this at the inaugural meeting on the implementation of the Skills Up Artisans (SUPA) programme in Abuja, on creating a mutually beneficial partnership between ITF and Enlisted Skills Training Centers (ESTCs) by transforming the skills acquisition space in Nigeria.

He said: “Over the last seven months, my team and I have worked assiduously to design and undertake the preparatory work for a specialized program known as Skill Up Artisan (SUPA) to respond to the technical manpower crisis faced by the country as well as escalate vocational training to defeat quackery.

The deputy director of technical and vocational skills, Usman Ibrahim Gano noted that the SUPA programme is to aid quality service delivery through the Training, Certification, and licensing of artisans and to promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.