Mass production of Android phones will begin soon – ITF

The Managing Director of the Industrial Training Fund, Joseph Ari, said the agency is currently finalizing the processes and modalities that will enable it to begin mass production of Android phones for Nigerians.

He spoke Monday in Jos at a press conference organized by the ITF to unveil his strategic political orientation for the period 2022-2025.

According to the CEO, apart from the need to expand the capacity of the machines involved in the mass production of Android phones, there was also the need for the agency to finalize the legal framework for the purposes of intellectual property rights.

Ari said, “Yes, it is true that in June last year, we gave a sample of our Android mobile phone to Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari, but you know the issues surrounding the productions are long. and varied. As I speak to you two weeks ago I was able to inspect the assembly plant which has now been set up at the Model Skill Training Center in Abuja because we needed to expand the capacity of the machines, but they have now been installed.

“We also had to work with other regulators in terms of developing the legal framework and other things and we are now at the end of finding the legal framework for the purposes of intellectual property rights. So from June of last year till now we have done a lot to make sure that we roll out mass production of android mobile phones and even a private company in lagos afrione an indian company also approached us to partner in the area of ​​capacity building and we have already signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard, so the rolling plan is on track.

The Director-General denounced the high unemployment rate in the country which he said stood at over 33%, pointing out that the situation had persisted mainly because more than 23 million Nigerians wanted to work but lacked the required skills.

According to him, “it is based on the above and in accordance with our mandate to develop a large pool of skilled labor sufficient to meet the needs of the public and private sectors of the national economy, associated with the resolutions of the recently concluded ITF National Skills Summit in Abuja, which we felt was imperative to review and refocus our strategies to address the above challenges and to meet the nation’s skills needs in line with global best practice Arriving at our strategies, we considered the need to scale up our activities to address rising unemployment and other socio-economic challenges by leveraging our three Es (experience, expertise and vast network), by deploying technology for wider coverage and more flexible service delivery.

Ari explained that the new policy framework, which was themed “Re-engineering Skills for Sustainable Development,” had external and internal components.

“To achieve this, the Fund will develop national professional standards; Evaluate and certify apprentices, technicians and artisans; Train and certify learning and development professionals and; Create and maintain a professional training database. When fully in place, our efforts will lead to the development of a strong National Occupational Standard (NOS); create a pool of certified apprentices, technicians and artisans as well as assessors and auditors, as well as a pool of certified learning and development professionals and a regulated training environment,” he said. he adds.