COREN, other stakeholders rejected a proposed bill to amend the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Act 2011
The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has rejected a proposed bill to amend the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Act 2011 to enhance sources of revenue.
The President, COREN, Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives committee on industry at a one-day public hearing on a bill titled: “A bill for an Act to amend the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), 2021 to clarify ambiguity in the interpretation of key words in the principal Act define important terms, provide clarity and precision and enhance the fund’s sources of revenue and for related matters (HB. 1519) 2024.”
He said the idea behind ITF was to enable young Nigerians who chose to study engineering and be thoroughly trained with hands-on experience, noting that the amendment being sought would bring challenges to training, certification, licensing, monitoring, investigation, and discipline.
This, according to him, will lead to legal tussle, and conflict of interests, adding that the situation will trigger unwillingness from suppliers, contractors, consultants, both public and private sectors.
He said: “Already there are indications that employers are agitated and are planning to contest the existing practice between them and ITF having seen ITF shifting from its mandate of a fund towards a training, certification and regulatory outfit.’’
He therefore urged the committee to direct ITF to go back to its original purpose. He further proposed that if the bill had to be passed, certain clauses in the proposed amendment must go as provided in the white paper on strategic plan for the development and control of engineering in Nigeria.
The Director General of ITF, Dr. Oluwatoyin Ogun, speaking to the newsmen after the hearing said the bill is not about making new law but rather enriching the mandate of ITF. “We are not making new laws. We are enriching our mandate in ITF. Mandates are there, go to the mandate and read the mandate. Most people that talk here today have not read the ITF mandates at all. So, go back as pressmen, look at the mandates,” he said.
However, other stakeholders from Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Committee of Sector Skill Council of Nigeria, National Board of Technical Education amongst, others called for a step down of the ITF bill.
Earlier, chairman of the committee, Rep. Enitan Dolapo Badru (APC Lagos), stressed the need to ensure that legislation aligns with contemporary needs as it pertains to skills acquisition and management. He said: “For the records, the existing legal framework for Industrial Training Funds was enacted in 2011, this piece of legislation has been in operation in the last thirteen years, and you will certainly agree with me that skill acquisition and management have evolved overtime that the existing legislation can only stand the test of time when it’s in alignment with the contemporary legal order.”
Badru, assured that the 10th House was committed to legislation that would ensure the enhancement of better life for the citizenry, adding that the public hearing was grass-root oriented and developmental focused. “It is the committee’s resolve to synthetize the various views from the stakeholders and arrive at a just and reasonable position that will be presented to the House for adoption,” he said.
STAR Check: Nigerians, particularly, constituents of Lagos Island I Federal Constituency, can keep tabs on the legislative performance of Rep. Badru throughout the 10th House here