Photo: ITF Director-General, Joseph Ari
Mr Joseph Ari, Director-General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), says no fewer than 23 million Nigerians are currently unemployed due to lack of requisite skills.
Ari made this known at the ITF’s second national skills summit held in Abuja on Saturday.
He stressed that many Nigerians were still in the labour market searching for gainful employment because they did not possess the requisite skills with which to be employed.
He said: “The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Q4 2020 report on labour force statistics, unemployment and underemployment, shows that the number of unemployed persons in the economically active or working age is122,049,400.
“Out of this number, 69,675,468 are willing to work, but only 46,488,079 are in paid employment.
“What could be inferred from the survey is that over 23 million Nigerians that are perhaps qualified and willing to work are without jobs, which also showed the unemployment rate among the youths (15 to 35 years).
The ITF boss disclosed that a skills gap assessment of six priority sectors of the national economy conducted by the organization in collaboration with the United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO) revealed that rather than the absence of jobs, vacancies still existed in several sectors of the national economy.
Ari explained that such vacancies could not be filled by Nigerians because of their lack of requisite skills or were being filled by foreigners.
“The ITF through the training of youths, women and physically challenged persons and other programmes, has empowered thousands of Nigerians in different sectors of the economy,” he added.
