Towards promoting its partnership with stakeholders in the nation’s maritime industry, the Industrial Trust Fund (ITF) has said that it will soon establish its presence in ports.
The ITF’s impending foray into the ports emerged hinted during an interactive meeting between the ITF management and port stakeholders held yesterday at Protea Hotel , Ikeja, Lagos.
The ITF Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Longmas Sambo Wapmuk, during his presentation at the ITF-Port Stakeholders Forum, justified ITF’s interest in the ports with reason that Nigeria’s trade “will do much better with increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and skilled workforce.”
He explained that, in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda of reducing unemployment and eradicating poverty, the ITF is set to encourage investment in human capital development to help ensure that the nation’s human resource endowment is knowledgeable, skilled, productive and healthy.
The ITF boss further explained that its partnership with port stakeholders is focused on “building capacity of our workforce, through vocational skills training to create a world-classed manpower that will attract FDI to accelerate Nigeria’s development economic growth.”
He, however, noted that this can only be achieved if the stakeholders remit their training contributions to the ITF, as provided by the ITF Amendment Act 2011.
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