Tensions have escalated between Loubna Tricha, Director General of the Office of Vocational Training and Labor Promotion (OFPPT), and Younès Sekkouri, Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment, and Skills. Since assuming her role in August 2018, Tricha has strongly contested in a statement the remarks made by her supervising minister. Sekkouri had attributed the delay in disbursing scholarships to trainees to the OFPPT, vowing a «profound administrative overhaul» to address the issue. In her official response, the OFPPT director asserted that «the ministry's delay is the root of the problem (...) the disbursement of the ministry's financial allocations has often resulted in significant delays. Furthermore, there is the challenge of verifying the lists of beneficiaries, a process over which the Office has no decision-making power». She further emphasized that «the ministry's funding experienced a significant shortfall between 2018 and 2022, with no financial transfers recorded during these four years. This situation placed substantial financial pressure on the Office, compelling it to use its own resources to ensure the continuity of scholarship payments to trainees. The total amount of scholarships disbursed between 2017 and 2025 amounted to 968 million dirhams, of which 296 million came from the OFPPT's own budget, approximately 30%». This public dispute surfaces just months after the Employment Minister's decision in June 2025 to dismiss Imane Belmaati, the director of the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANAPEC), merely 14 months after her appointment.
