Traditional Apprenticeship System of Labour Supply for Housing Production in Saki, Southwestern, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the extent to which the traditional apprenticeship system, a major stakeholder in the training of building artisans in Nigeria (NHP, 2006), has succeeded in supplying the required artisan for housing development in Saki, Oyo State. Both primary and secondary data were utilized for the study. Pre-tested set of
questionnaires were used to collect the primary data, and a simple random sampling procedure was adopted in selecting the samples. A total of 310 respondents, representing 5.5% of the total population were selected. The study revealed that the existing building artisans in the town were aging-out (66.4% were at least 41 years old) and the rate of enrollment as apprentice is fast dwindling (from 861 in 1997 to 189 in 2006, at an average rate of -16% per annum). Most prominent among the reasons proffered for the dwindling enrollment of apprentice building artisans in the town are: ‘quest for overnight richness\' (61.3%); ‘preference for occupation with little physical/mental ability requirements\' (51.9%); ‘perceived dirty nature of the occupation\' (36.1%); and, ‘preference for occupation with daily benefits for the apprentice\' (27.1%). Strategies were proposed to tackle
identified challenges.

Keywords: Housing production; Manpower development; Traditional apprenticeship system; Work-brigade; Nigeria.

Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies of Management Vol. 1 (2) 2008: pp. 16-25