By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos—The Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, Mrs. Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, has expressed concern over the increase in the number of unemployed youths in the country, saying the agency was set to train 1,000 youths from the 36 states of the federation to address the trend.

She added that the training would be extended to the internally displaced persons, IDPs, camps in the country to touch their lives positively and empower them to fend for their families.

The DG stated that the Fund was focused at repositioning the economy of the country as a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, had been entered with Dangote Group of companies and that over 4,000 youths had been trained in various skills acquisitions.

Speaking in an interactive session with journalists in Jos, Chukkas-Onaeko commended the media for contributing positively to the development of Nigeria and urged them to do more in informing and educating the society on the positive events taking place in the country.

She said further that President Muhammadu Buhari would not relegate the issue of youth empowerment to the background.

The ITF boss pointed out that the Fund had programmes outlined to create quick job opportunities for school leavers to address youth restiveness and tackle poverty in the land, stressing that Nigerians needed to give emphasis on technical/vocational learning.