News From Nigeria
Director General of Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Dr. Afiz Oluwatoyin Ogun, has said 100,000 artisans would be empowered through the SUPA Phase 11 Deployment and Training Programme.
He also said all actions of the agency have been with the best intention to aid easy cultivation of manpower to meet industrial needs and provide continuous development/life-long skill for graduates to match them with available opportunities in the industrial sector.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the Fund completed its latest round of assessment of privately owned Training Centers collaborating with it for the delivery of SUPA program across Nigeria, Ogun explained that though SUPA was given to ITF as a mandate to address rampant quackery, unemployment and youth restiveness, the program completely aligns with ITF’s core mandate and also addresses a long-standing challenge of providing contributing employers to the Fund with skilled manpower to keep their businesses going.
The ITF boss said that SUPA Phase II deployment and training process will be pursued with vigour and in the most transparent, accountable and comprehensive manner.
‘’ ITF will increase the number of privately owned training centers from 880 (Eight Hundred and Eighty) to 1500 (One Thousand Five Hundred). This is to enable it to achieve the target of graduating 100,000 (One Hundred Thousand) artisans in this phase’’.
The Director General said the 100,000 (One Hundred Thousand) artisans will be drawn from the 29,000 that graduated from SUPA Foundation program (Phase I) last year and from the pool of over 700,000 (Seven Hundred Thousand) registered artisans on its SUPA platform.
‘’As this population is scattered across every local government area in Nigeria, it is necessary to have at least two training centers per local government to guarantee ease of access by artisans’’.
According to him, the training centre accreditation will involve the examination of the corporate structure of Training Centers, evaluation of their physical infrastructure and set-up, appraisal of their training equipment and assessment of competence/qualifications of their instructors.
‘’Each Training Center is required to firstly register on the SUPA platform of the ITF. Upon completion of the registration process, the Fund will publish the list of successful training centers based on their categorizations in categories “A”, “B” and “C”. Thereafter, the Fund will begin the process of notifying artisans of their deployment to the various accredited training centers based on proximity to their disclosed residential address. The exercise will commence and end before April 30, 2025’’.
The DG stated that the Fund will do everything possible to improve the capacities of accredited training centers to meet the target of SUPA which is international certification.
‘’Over 3000 (Three Thousand) instructors from the 880 (Eight Hundred and Eighty) accredited training centers have undergone train-the-trainer courses. The Fund is developing a holistic system for equipment support for training centers and also seeking ways to ease access to finance’’.
Ogun restated that the SUPA Phase II training entails training of artisans in soft skills of Project Management, Professional Ethics and Patriotism and Industrial Health and Safety.
On Project Management, he said ITF is collaborating with the Chartered Institute of Project Management of Nigeria, (CIPMN) to deliver a bespoke certification for artisans in a special category.
‘’Both the examination and certification process of artisans in this phase will be handled by CIPMN. SUPA Phase II is to take 8 weeks and successful artisans will automatically graduate to the final phase of SUPA which is Phase III. This phase will cover the actual technical training which is based on 30% theory and 70% practical as well as training in Entrepreneurship’’.
Particularly, the ITF BOSS emphasized the sincerity and sense of direction of President Bola Tinubu to build a better nation.
He lauded him for his deep foresight.
Ogun commended the Minister of Industry for his leadership.
He applauded the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance for his solid support for the program.
He also praised the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN and Nigerian Employees Consultative Association, and other relevant public and private Organizations that have reckoned with the SUPA program.
Ogun assured that in a short while, Nigerians will begin to feel the impact of all the good work being done behind the scenes by ITF in the form of better skilled workmen in relevant trade areas.
‘’The skills acquisition programme exposes graduates to local and international awarding bodies to certify them fit for local and international markets’’.
South-South leaders on Tuesday advised Kogi Central constituents not to allow political clowns, destructive elements and saboteurs masquerading as Progressives to confuse them.
“The suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is a taunt to Kogi Central constituents and Nigerian women.
They also urged leaders in other geo-political zones to make Akpoti-Uduaghan’s cause their own.
“Some senators and Kogi APC chieftains think fake signatures and hooligans mobilized by them can lead to recalling Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from the Senate”
The South-South leaders in a statement in Port Harcourt described the six months suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan as a bad idea and strategic mistake.
“If it is the intention to have unity in the Senate, then the leadership must ensure the lifting of the six months suspension”
The notable leaders praised Akpoti-Uduaghan for weathering a lot of storms.
“Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is on the right side of history”
The statement issued by the Chairman of South-South Front (SSF), Chief John Harry, berated some senators for playing countless destructive games and knocking down the guardrails that define the boundaries of acceptable political discourse.
They blamed the Senate leadership for sending a terrible signal of moral failure, selfishness and shortsightedness throughout Nigeria.
The highly respected zonal leaders described calls for the arrest of Akpoti-Uduaghan as foolish.
In blunt terms, the leaders urged Senator Akpabio to put aside partisanship, pettiness and unnecessary pride, modernize his approach to issues, allow sanity to return to the life of the Senate and avoid escalating the crisis.
“This is a delicate moment. We urge Senator Godswill Akpabio to think of the consequences and discuss the way out of the crisis with the Alema of Warri, High Chief Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan. He should not waste energy on petition and court processes”
The respected South-South leaders also hit back at Executive Watchdog, describing its criticism directed towards Akpoti-Uduaghan as sickening and unacceptable.
They vowed to stick with Akpoti-Uduaghan throughout the crisis.
The statement highlighted Akpoti-Uduaghan’s achievements, political skills, strength and determination.
“Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is an asset to Nigeria”
Leading engineering construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC has been recognised as a Most Influential Corporate Voice by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR. The credit came at the National Spokespersons Awards 2025 which wrapped up the just ended 2nd Nigeria Spokespersons Summit jointly organised by the Institute and the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, held in Abuja, Wednesday.
According to the Chairman of the Awards Planning Committee, Mr. Segun McMedal who announced the awards, Julius Berger joined two other corporate organisations to clinch the worthy recognition as influential corporate voices in the 2024/25 year under review.
He listed the adjudication criteria to include: ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively, ensuring messages are easily understood, possession of skill in tailoring communication to different media channels while maintaining message integrity, frequency and quality of media engagements, including interviews, press conferences, press releases, and op-eds and ability to craft compelling narratives that effectively communicate the organization’s objectives and achievements.
Besides, the recognition, he added, was also based on proficiency in leveraging emerging communication channels, tools, and technologies to enhance engagement and outreach as well as NIPR’s evaluation of how effectively the organisations PR objectives were met, measuring the overall success and influence of communication efforts.
Thus, being media savvy and the organisation’s visibility in the media, story telling and framing ability, the use of new technologies and the outcome and impact of the effort among others helped in determining the influence of our corporate voices of choice, he said.
In a related development, Julius Berger’s Media Relations Manager, Emmanuel Isibor won NIPR’s Outstanding Spokesperson, Crisis Management, (Private Sector) Award at the event. Citing the rise and positive visibility of Julius Berger throughout 2024 till date in the media inspite of the challenges in the sector and the general public as well as regularity of the organisation’s media reports across the print, broadcast and online platforms, McMedal said, the Award was very deserving even as he urged all winners to continue to up their professionalism in the discharge of their duties as worthy ambassadors of the Institute.
In his short remarks ahead the Awards ceremony, President of the Institute, Dr. Ike Neliaku, fnipr, said, the summit leads to the awards. This is part of that whole process of remembering spokesperson so that you can help a voice. You have a platform to yourself. Not only that you come together to interact to learn to understand the new things going on in the industry. It is also for you to be able to showcase yourselves through crisis.
Declaring the event open on the first Day of the Summit, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, described the NIPR as a compelling imprimatur of professionalism in Nigeria’s public relations practice.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, emphasised the urgent need for ethical leadership communication to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy, saying, “after 25 years of uninterrupted democracy, Nigeria has reached a point where our communication of leadership and policy must reflect the maturity of our democratic process.”
He warned that the spread of misinformation undermines democratic values, adding that, public relations should not be viewed as spin or propaganda but as a vehicle for truth. When communication is rooted in integrity, citizens are empowered to make informed decisions and hold leaders accountable.
The Minister of Information, Alh Mohammed Idris Malagi, fnipr, his predecessor, Alh. Lai Mohammed, CON, fnipr, former Ogun State Governor, Chief Segun Osoba, CFR, CON; former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Edem Duke, fnipr; and the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Akintunde Rotimi Jr were among the participants at the two-day event hosted by the President of the NIPR, Dr. Ike Neliaku, fnipr.