Effect of national open apprenticeship scheme on youth employment in Ikwerre local government area of rivers state, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the effect of the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme on youth employment in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Data were collected with the aid of the structured questionnaire administered to 120 randomly selected youths in the study area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed high (79.2%) level of awareness and high (84.2%) level of participation by respondents in the scheme. More participation by the respondents in the scheme were on catering with 11.3% response and welding and fabrication with 10.0% response. Socio-economic effect of the scheme was more on employment generation with 87.5% response. Major problems of respondents in the scheme were, exclusion of some participants from resettlement benefits which accounted for 76.3% of the problem and insufficient resettlement package which accounted for 71.3% of the problem. Increasing the number of participants to benefit from the scheme’s resettlement package and improving the content of the resettlement package are recommended.

Keywords: National, open apprenticeship scheme, youths, employment, Nigeria