The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Bayelsa State Office, on Wednesday in Yenagoa, pledged to deepen collaboration in human capacity Development (HCD), just as the Board was proclaimed Best-in-Training Contribution by the Fund.
The Executive Secretary of the Board, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, speaking through the General Manager, Human Capacity Development (HCD), Barr. Esueme Dan Kikile, welcomed the ITF Management team, led by the Area Manager, Mrs. Oluwatosin Akingbola, to the Nigerian Content Tower (NCT), noting that the similarities in their respective mandates was a compelling ground for close collaboration.
He recalled that the Board has had collaboration with the ITF at the national level, with the corporate headquarters of the Fund in Abuja, in three different phases of capacity building, the last of which was closed out in August 2025. The latter training, a six-month Technical and Vocational Training Programme for 100 Nigerian youths, covered automation and mechatronics technology, building technology, residential air-conditioning, refrigeration maintenance, instrumentation and process control, and mobile phone repairs, among other skill sets.
“We are very happy with the collaboration we have enjoyed with the ITF,” Barr. Kikile stated, adding, “For us you are a very strategic partner that we must work with.” The collaborations between the two agencies are designed to close identified gaps in vocational and entrepreneurship skills in different sectors.
He said he was amazed at the ITF’s Model Skill Training Centre (MSTC), Abuja, in terms of the resources available, and that it was well suited for vocational skills and other trainings that are hands-on, such as tiling, masonry, and catering services.
In response to requests made by the ITF Area Manager, Barr. Kikile assured the Fund’s Management: “For us in NCDMB, we will work closely with you, help with the artisan programme, and also help in collaborating with you to build capacity of your own staff.” He, however, advised the ITF to communicate its request for assistance to the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB for consideration and necessary action.
In her own remarks, Mrs. Akingbola commended the NCDMB for the comprehensiveness and quality of the vocational and technical programmes
carried out by the Board over the years, noting that the successes recorded by the Board have significantly complemented what the ITF was established to do.
“ITF has targets in capacity building,” she noted, adding that NCDMB is one of the agencies that helps the Fund to meet its targets in human capacity development. “ITF came to thank NCDMB for that,” she disclosed, while stating the desire of the Fund to partner the Board in developing artisans.
She called for assistance by the Board in ensuring that contractors who have dealings with it produced ITF Compliance Certificate as required by extant regulations.
In response to the request by the ITF Area Manager, NCDMB’s Manager, Capacity Building Directorate, Engr. Dokubo Obong, said ITF Compliance Certificate is one of the basic requirements in the procurement processes of the NCDMB. “If you [a contractor] do not submit your valid ITF Compliance Certificate, we drop you off of our bidding process.”
He also noted that the enormity of tasks before the nation’s capacity building agencies could never be over-emphasised, given the huge population of school children in secondary schools who need basic skills to be productively engaged to earn a living after completing their studies.
A member of the ITF Management team, Mr. Udofia Felix Udofia, responded by acknowledging the reality of the dangers that lie ahead if the society should fail to equip youths with appropriate vocational and technical skills, but pointed out that the ITF has plans that could adequately address such needs if implemented.
According to him, the Fund seeks to establish ITF Model School Dual Education System, patterned after an age-old system in Germany, whereby secondary schools in the country would have in their curriculum two hours of training in chosen skill sets at the end of each school day. The System provides for integration of theoretical classroom learning with practical, hands-on experience in a workplace setting.
The courtesy visit by the ITF Management team climaxed with the presentation of Best-in-Training Contribution Award, 2023, to the NCDMB by the Area Manager of the ITF, Mrs. Akingbola. It was received on behalf of the Board by Barr. Esueme Dan Kikile.
