Teryima Andrew, Jos
Chairman senate committee on Industries, senator Dr. Sam Egwu, has said the committee will closely monitor full implementation of budgetary allocation accrued to all industries in Nigeria for maximum productivity.
The chairman senate committee on industrial senator Sam Egwu, made the disclosure on Friday in Jos, at the headquarters of the Industrial Training Fund ITF, during it oversight function to the agency.
Dr. Egwu disclosed that ITF has a budget allocation 39,016,460,600.00 in the 2017 budget to carryout it activities. Senator Egwu urged ITF management to make judicious use of the sum for the benefit of Nigerians.
“The purpose of this oversight visit is to conduct an assessment on the level of judicious budgetary implementation by the Fund.”
Earlier, Director General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Joseph Ari, in an address had said funds accrued to the ITF in the past could not effectively meet up with it challenges, particularly in the area of paying allowances of students on industrial training scheme SIWES.
As a result, the Fund is currently owing students huge sum of their allowances, amounting to billions of Naira.
Mr. Ari stressed that “ITF is owing bullions as unpaid SIWES supervisory and students allowances.”
The DirectorGeneral informed that it has paid some of the students on assumption of office “sir, in spite of the huge amount of 3,560,908 paid to students industrial training scheme in 2016, we still owe billions, at a point the affected students were harassing our staff all over the 37 area offices.”
He told the senate committee that ITF has a total of 3,560,908 students on industrial training scheme from 310 institutions.
The Director General (ITF) therefore appealed to the national assembly to press on the executives to apropriate more funds to the agency, to enable it up set huge debt been owed students on attachment at the Fund.
“To alleviate this problem, we appeal to the national assembly to use it good offices to reverse this trend in order to avert rampant picketing and harassment of the ITF staff across the country.
Commenting on it achievements, Mr. Ari said it has within one year in office trained 1, 200 Nigerians in skill acquisitions, and currently has 3,900 under going similar training across the states in Nigeria.
ITF boss made the appeal at the ITF board room during a parley with members of the senate committee on industrial, who visited ITF headquarters on it oversight function.
