By Emmanuel Aziken

For an agency established to provide resources and the framework for the promotion of manpower development, these are certainly not the best of days for the Industrial Training Fund, ITF. At the beginning of the month, the headquarters of the agency in Jos, Plateau State, was locked down on account of a three-day strike masterminded by two unions.

The actions of the unions are, however, countered by shrilling accusations of politics and ethnic feud, issues some union officials are alleged to have allowed themselves to have become engrossed in.

To the outsider, the ITF could well be said to be engulfed in a malaise of corruption, nepotism and absence of moral leadership. However, a  closer look would indicate what  sources allege to be political infighting at the top of the leadership of the agency with its present director general, Mrs. Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, as the central figure in what some is alleged to be a hate campaign propelled from within the organisation.

Taking a front seat in the campaign against  Chukkas-Onaeko are the two major industrial unions in the agency, the Senior Staff Association of Communications, Transport and Corporations, SSACTC, and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employers, AUPCTRE, which  have collaborated to fight her.

The unions had, penultimate Monday, mobilised workers at the headquarters of the agency on a three- day working strike during which they made several allegations bordering on highhandedness and financial abuse by the management.

The agitation against  Chukkas-Onaeko remarkably are also being seen by some other stakeholders as a war of vendetta perhaps arising from ethnic or sexist basis. It was especially so, given some innuendoes like the assertion that the recent summit of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, called for the disbandment of the ITF.

The intricacies in the agitation by the unions are also reflected in the proposal to build the first skill acquisition centre by the ITF in the South-South and South-East. That is against the fact that no centre had until now been established in the South-South and the two geopolitical zones whereas three of the five centres previously established by the fund are in the North-Central.

Though some took issues with the decision of the fund to site the centre in Umunede, Delta State, the director-general’s state of origin, however, defence for her was given by the explanation that the proposal to site the training centre there was taken by the previous governing council of the ITF.

A statement by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs, of the Fund, Mrs. Ifeoma Iheuze, while noting that  Chukkas-Onaeko  has been commended severally for her fiscal discipline, said:

“On several occasions, she had ordered the renegotiation of certain outrageous contracts that were awarded in the past, thereby achieving huge savings for the fund.”

On non-remittance of deductions from salaries from June to date, the statement explained that there had been a backlog due to the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, adding that they were now being processed for payment.

“A situation where our labour unions allow themselves to be used by a few people, who want power by all means, to disrupt laudable policies that would eventually be in their long-term interest, and in the interest of the economy, is not acceptable. In ITF, it cannot be business as usual again, in the interest of efficient and effective skills development. This exactly is what a few people are trying to fight for reasons best known to them,” the statement added, noting, however, that welfare conditions have been at their best ever under the current administration.

“We wish to refute the allegation of corruption in its entirety. The present DG has been commended severally for her financial prudence and her objectivity in tackling issues. On several occasions, she had directed for the renegotiation of certain outrageous contracts that were awarded in the past, thereby achieving huge savings for the fund.”