Director-general of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Dr Oluwatoyin Ogun has hinted that a directive of President Bola Tinubu to lift and empower 20 million artisans in the next four years has started yielding positive results.
Ogun stated this on Friday in Akure, the Ondo State capital, while speaking with newsmen and subsequently addressing some artisans’ groups in the state.
He disclosed that the ITF initiative was aimed at ensuring that artisans in the country can compete favourably with their counterparts abroad and give them a platform to become millionaires.
Ogun described his visit to Ondo State as homecoming and appreciated the massive reception he received from APC chieftains and the artisans’ groups led by the senior special assistant to the Ondo State governor on Artisans Matters, Chief Daisi Komolafe.
“I have started pursuing it (the 20 million artisans uplift). I am not just going to pursue it, I have started; they can testify. The artisans can testify. That is why I call them my primary constituency.
“I am overwhelmed. It is a good home-coming; I am very excited to be back in Ondo State.
“The artisans in Nigeria are more than 50 per cent of our population. Do you not have an artisan in your family? All families in Nigeria. If we raise them, they are raising the grassroots of Nigeria. If we raise them, we are improving our economy.
“We are targeting our economy, we are not just improving, we are targeting and we are making our economy fly and they will not just project our economy here, they will also go outside, make that money and bring the dollars home. We are prepared for that.
“Mr President has told us that we should lift five million artisans. The President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given us that mandate to lift 5 million artisans to lift them every year and we are prepared to do that. They can testify.
“You see, I have been outside for 19 years but when I came home, people were telling me that there is no job and I see there is a job in Nigeria. There is a job in Nigeria because if there is no job, how come people (artisans) from Ghana will come here and get jobs easily? How come people from Benin Republic, Togo and all those places will come to take our artisanal job and they are doing well? Some of them become millionaires and take our money back home.”
