Graduate unemployment is a major social problem in Nigeria, today. The Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector has the highest potential for solving Nigeria’s unemployment and poverty problems. The Vocational Education and Training (VET) system could prepare graduates to gain employment in the SME sector. However, training systems in developing countries generally, and in Africa in particular, are inadequate in supporting those seeking work or self-employment, and need to improve their relevance in order to effectively address this issue.

Researchers from the Institute of Development Policy and Management, UK, explore the extent to which skills and education provided by VET institutions in Nigerian are relevant and adequate to meet the needs of the SME sector. They identify issues and constraints faced by graduates of the VET system and the SME sector and show how these affect the government’s effort to tackle unemployment and poverty.

The Nigerian formal VET system includes government polytechnics and technical schools and the National Board for Technical and Business Education (NBTE), while the informal system works mainly through apprenticeships. Both of these systems face several problems.

In the formal system the problem is with resources and their management. The community generally has a poor opinion of vocational trade and graduates of the VET system are not employed readily. Those who work in this system do not appreciate the significance of the private sector in general and SMEs in particular. SMEs are usually the prospective employers of graduates from the VET system. But they are not involved in the design and delivery of VET training programmes and this contradicts the claim by VET institutions that SMEs and employers are consulted on such issues.

The problems of the informal sector are inadequate support from government and its agencies as well as the low profile and image of the sector. The researchers also find that:

• There is high unemployment amongst graduates of polytechnics and technical colleges especially in the semi-urban centres.
• A new reform agenda for the Nigerian VET system has been initiated. This is based on the philosophy that VET should include educational institutions that produce graduates who are able to find jobs based on their technical and entrepreneurial skills and education.
• Reform of the VET system includes creation of more VET institutions, emphasis on self-employment, improving the image of the system, accreditation of skills, training new teachers, reforming the curriculum to suit the needs of the people, etc.
• SMEs do not seem to recognise the significance of informal networks and relationships cultivated through trust and how its absence is causing major problems such as crime, loss of customers and the operation and development of the sector in general.

To get the most out of the Nigerian VET system the government has to address problems that deal not just with the VET system but also those outside it. The researchers recommend the following:

• The government needs to take stock of consequences of economic liberalisation and deregulation when considering skills training, unemployment and poverty. SMEs and the VET system need to form a more involved role in the social and economic development of the country.
• The recent VET reform agenda continue to lay emphasis on public sector employment needs. It is also necessary to focus on the private sector, especially the SMEs and the informal sector which both have the potential to provide several jobs.
• The reform agenda should not focus on government and international donors as the only sources of funding for VET in the country: local and international private sector investors should be encouraged to play a more active role.
• There needs to be greater integration of the formal VET system with the informal sector, and poverty reduction and unemployment initiatives: for example, formal accreditation of skills provided by the inform sector can help improve the employment opportunities for unemployed.

Source(s):
‘Skill Needs of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: An investigation of the interface between labour market and vocational educational training in Nigeria’, Report to the Department for International Development, UK, IDPM, Manchester, by Aminu Mamman, Dec. 2003

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK

id21 Research Highlight: 11 August 2004

Further Information:
Aminu Mamman
University of Manchester
Institute for Development Policy and Management
Harold Hankins Building
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9QH
UK

Tel: 44 (0) 161 2757444
Fax: 44 (0) 161 2738829
Contact the contributor: aminu.mamman@man.ac.uk

Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM), UK

Other related links:
'Where has all the education gone? Tracing the employment outcomes of African school-leavers and graduates'

'Skilling up in a globalising world: Africa’s training challenge'

'Reform of vocational education and training in Tanzania and Zimbabwe'

'Skills development in sub-Saharan Africa' - World Bank Report

Vocational education and training research from the world bank

VET in Botswana - British Council Botswana