The Director General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ntung Ari, is a consummate bureaucrat, savvy media personality of distinction and deeply knowledgeable legal persona.  Born on December 21, 1960, the sunrise of Ari in the media began and simultaneously progressed with the acquisition of a Diploma in Broadcast Journalism, Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Post Graduate Diploma in Management. In a bid to broaden his sphere of knowledge in Law, he bagged a first degree and later added a Masters Degree in Law to his academic status. As someone never tired of expanding his potentials and acquiring more academic laurels, he went for yet another Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), thus horning his business intelligence and sharpening his leadership potentials.
He started what he loved, broadcasting, during his early days at the Plateau Broadcasting Corporation as a reporter and presenter. Thereafter, he relocated to Lagos where he worked at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. As someone looking for bigger challenges and expanding his horizon in the broadcast media, he transferred his services to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) as news editor and broadcaster.
After many years of broadcasting, he felt he needed to conquer new grounds. His quest for more challenges made him to berth at the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria (NICON), where he was appointed as the Public Relations Manager, North.  This appointment not only exposed him to practical applications of theoretical postulations learned in schools, it also exposed him to the dynamics of public relations for corporate development.
He was later appointed to serve as the Director of Press and Public Affairs in Plateau State where he served two administrations. His excellent disposition to work was later to lead to his appointment as the Sole Administrator and later General Manager of the Plateau Publishing Company, (PPC). As someone whose sterling performance in public service had always attracted public commendations, he was redeployed to the Plateau Radio Television Corporation, (PRTVC) as General Manager where he turned around the fortunes of the media outfit.
With his working years at the state level over after his appointment as Permanent Secretary in charge of Plateau State Government House Administration, he was appointed a director in the Department of Public Relations, External Affairs and Publicity of the Industrial Training Fund. As the man in charge of Public Relations, Ari brought to bear on the job his experience as a PR expert that saw members of staff re-oriented to provide quality service to Clients of the Fund. Apart from creating a robust engagement with external stakeholders of the agency, the new policy paved the way for increased support and collaboration with critical stakeholders in realising the mandates of the ITF.  Apart from heading the Public Relations Department of the Fund, he was also at different times the Director of Administration and Human Resource Department, Corporate Planning Department and the Director Business Training Development Department at the ITF Headquarters.
Sir Ari belongs to various professional bodies and associations that include: the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, the Nigerian Institute of Management, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), a Fellow of the Corporate Administration Institute and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR). He was a regular face at various management and professional courses both within and outside the country and boasts of many awards of professional excellence from different bodies and organisations.
His appointment as DG of the ITF by President Muhammadu Buhari  in September 2016 breathed a fresh air of relief, following what insiders describe as low morale among staff and other untoward events then threatening the Fund. Described as someone with an unprecedented knowledge on the workings of the Fund, his appointment as DG of ITF, no doubt, was hinged on restoring the key vision of the Fund.
As a devout Christian, who is a Knight of the Catholic Church of the Order of St. Mulumba (KSM), forgiveness and forward-looking posture is part of Ari’s time-honoured principles. He sees life and career as founded on what he has adopted as his aphorism, “This too shall pass away.” Considering the fact that life and position are passing phases, the need to embark on development when given an opportunity to serve remains the best option for him. Those close to Ari believe that he easily forgives and ever willing to open a fresh page for yet another moment of experience with those who have hurt him. Due to his large heartedness and sincerity of purpose, in less than one year of his appointment as boss of ITF, Ari had rallied staff of Fund and raised their morale towards achieving a renewed vision for the organisation.
Since taking over as ITF DG, he has unveiled realisable strategies entitled: ‘ITF Reviewed Vision: Strategies For Mandate Actualisation.’ This renewed vision is anchored on a programme committed to delivering on mass skills acquisition programmes, as well as broadening platforms of opportunities for both the ITF and advancing human development. According to the ITF’s helmsman, the renewed vision of the ITF is hinged on “ensuring that the skills of our people are fully developed and the non-oil sector developed to make Nigerians less dependent on oil. In line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for improved development of the country, we are pursuing various programmes that will deliver skills to thousands of Nigerians and opening up various centres in the country for many Nigerians to be equipped with technical knowledge in various sectors.”
As someone knowledgeable on how far collaboration and internal cohesion can go in attaining corporate goals, the ITF is into partnership with various countries like Singapore and Brazil, among others, to fully develop the skills of Nigerians in various fields of human endeavours. In his words, “No nation can develop when it depends on just a single product. Nigerians are endowed with vast human capacity and potentials. Our vision is to fully develop those potentials and unleash on the national economy for development. Our ability to develop Nigeria lies in our ability to develop ourselves and quip our population with requisite technical skills. The ITF is poised to fully develop the skills of our teeming population as championed by the administration led by President Buhari. We are in total compliance with the government’s vision and I can assure you that, Nigeria is set to experience a new dawn in skill acquisition for real time development.”
As he celebrates today three scores, less than three years, Ari sees a silver lining in every cloud, just as he believes that acknowledging our mortality and our resolve to do our best at every given opportunity hold our essence as instrument in the hands of our Creator to improve humanity.
As he once told me, “Each morning I come to the office, I am reminded of the transience of life and public office. There was someone before me; and certainly, there will be someone after me. So, I am reminded that the office I occupy today is a public trust. There’s nothing to be proud of when occupying a public office. I have learnt never to be carried away by allure of public office, but to do my best for the system and people.”
As he celebrates 57 years today, may that timeless truth of “This too shall pass away” spur him for greater service for the ITF and humanity.

Musa Simon Reef is a media professional and can be reached via: simonreef927@gmail.com[myad]

The drum beat of 2019 is gathering momentum, with politicians engaged in consultation for elective offices in southern Kaduna. While democracy has been so gracious to us since 1999, our politicians have not done what is expected of them. In the years of democratic rule, we have produced a governor, deputy governors, senators,  Reps, members of House of Assembly, including Ministers of the federal Republic. We have been appointed GMD NNPC, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of army staff (twice), Chief of Naval Staff, DG NIMASA, Dep Gov of CBN, among other countless appointments.
Despite all these appointments, has SK felt the impacts of such appointments? Just like we witnessed the appointments of no fewer than eight military administrators during the military era, with no visible strides on ground, our people have been neglected and exploited, not by any external marauding forces but by those elected to represent them. That does not in any infer that nothing has been achieved. The role of late Isaiah Balat as Minister for state and senator provides a glimmer of Hope for us.
As we set on yet another journey, I am concerned with the calibre of persons we are sending to both state and federal legislative houses. Considering the performances of our lawmakers in both houses, there is the urgent need to do a review  and ensure  that only the best are elected. We have most times experienced deafening silence from our lawmakers who should be seen to represent us at the most critical periods. In the calamity that has befallen us as a people, the failure of the political leadership to see  us as a united political entity sharing the same crippled destiny has been obvious
Let me at this junction salute the irresistable courage of those standing up for the people. Of a special meantion is our own erudite Bishop Joseph Danlami Bagobiri of the Kafanchan CATHOLIC DIOCESE. When most of  our political representatives feigned ignorance, he refused being Nicodemus and told bitter truths to power that be. SOKAPU, led by Bar Solomon Musa, proved  its  mettle in the midnight of criminal silence from our elected reps over our collective tragedy. Barr. Jacob Mark led SK Professionals and CSOs to put issues on the front burners. It took divine intervention to rescue Luka BINNIYAT from prison, just  as   Gloria Mabeiam Ballason emerged triumphant in the two cases she instituted against the Kaduna State Government over rights violations.
James Kanyip has remained  a legal  cornerstone on issues regarding human rights. Together with others, he secured a  court  judgement that declared  illegal the closure of tertiary schools  in Southern  Kaduna. Mrs Charity Shekari drew global attention to the menace  of attacks by herdsmen in not only SK but  other parts of the country. She has remained  a silent voice , so do many, I guess. These people, among  many others, remain some  of our finest in our trying periods. They shone so bright due  the ineptitude of our elected representatives. Where mainstream media were muzzled, The KEFASONS, ZIGWAIS, OBIS, PETERS, SULEIMANS, MAKERIS, BOMBAS, among many others, refused to let go of issues on the social media platforms..
As we move into the trenches for yet another political battle, may the anger we carry in us push us to reject those  who have turned us  into merchandise for their  political upliftment. These dealers  in the power game have consistently known that with bags of money, they can continue their hold on us that have been impoverished by their devious and wicked ways. Let us for the sake of our children and generations yet unborn reject those who think with money, we can be bought. In this line, let us be angry enough to confine to dustbin the commercialisation of the political process. PDP and APC are not religions. Where money holds sway, we should identify with the platform that grants  us the right to express our freedom of choice devoid of financial inducement.
As a people, we must reject attempts to Balkanise and make us enemies of ourselves. We come from a heroic  history. The  blood of our forebears were used to water the unity of this country. Our area is endowed with the intellectual  and economic prowess to be a shining bulb on a hill. What  has fought against us is personal ego and selfishness of our  leaders. We should broaden and expand our frontiers for  participation. In a bid to come out of our Plato’s cave of despair, we must be angry enough to pelt away these demons  behind our miserable  conditions. More than any time, we should reach out to others to be key  players in not only the state but the  country at large.
As long as we submit to these political merchants, so long we will continue being slaves to their evil machinations. Let  us  therefore resolve to be change  agents in dealing a deadly  blow to the monsters of money politics  and ethnic bickering over who represents us in  both state and federal  law-making houses.
May God  grant us the grace  to reject  money politics in 2019.

Reef is a media professional based in Abuja and can be reached via: simonreef927@gmail.com[myad]