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By Olakunle Olafioye
When he enrolled as an auto-mechanic apprentice more than two decades ago, Mutiu Adejare had little to bother about but so much to be excited about his new status. Primarily, he was elated seeing his dream of becoming an auto mechanic taking shape. He had a few years earlier completed his primary education but had to contend with his father who wanted him to take up farming as an occupation. This was against his dream of becoming an auto mechanic. But the death of his father and his eventual relocation to the city paved the way for him to actualize his dream.
His first major worry after arriving at a mechanic workshop was the numerous errands he was made to run for people at the workshop, being the youngest and the most junior in hierarchy among other apprentices. “My master already had seven trainees under him at the time I arrived and I was the eight person. Traditionally, the most junior trainee at the workshop is saddled with the onerous responsibility of running errands for others, particularly the senior apprentices. So, having to go on multiple errands at the expense of my core assignment made my first months as a mechanic apprentice unexciting and less rewarding,” Adejare recounted.
Adejare’s status would soon change from being an ‘errand boy’ at the workshop to a proper mechanic apprentice, following the arrival of another and a much younger trainee. “It was a huge relief for me personally because that was when my training actually began,” he enthused. In all, Adejare’s training lasted six and a half years, a period he described as ‘exciting and fulfilling’.
Today, Adejare, a master auto mechanic, is however ruing the diminishing interest of young Nigerians in undergoing training in vocational skills of various types. Unlike what obtained in the past when master-artisans had many trainees at their beck and call, Adejare said he is both the master and trainee at his own workshop, as he has to do everything himself and for himself. He stated that skill acquisition is fast losing an appeal especially among the young generation of Nigerians. This, he noted, does not only slow him down but also costs him a lot in terms of money making. “I have to do everything all by myself; from getting basic things such as food to buying spare parts, is all I do. And oftentimes when I leave the workshop to get something at the market people who need my services may have come and when I am not available to attend to them they take their vehicles somewhere else,” he said ruefully.
Like Adejare, Mrs Afusat Sodiya, a seamstress, is agonising over the declining apprenticeship culture in Nigeria. To her, the burden of having no helping hands in the figure of apprentices is heavier on the female artisans who have to combine their professional responsibilities with domestic duties as wives and mothers at home. Mrs. Sodiya said during her days as a trainee, it was her duty and those of other trainees to arrive at the workshop earlier before her mistress in order to attend to the clients before her boss arrived. “The impact of the lack of interest by the youth in acquiring vocation skills is more on the female professionals who have to attend to the issues at the home-front before their career. Most times I don’t get to my workshop until 10.00 or 11.00 am because I have to put things in order at home before leaving for work if there must be peace when I return in the evening.’
Impatience and the inability to endure the pains that come with training and get-rich-quick syndrome are identified as some of the reasons behind today’s youths’ disdain for apprenticeship, according to Mr Sulaimon Adebayo Lemboye, an electronic and electrical technician. Lemboye noted that most youths of nowadays are not ready to make any sacrifice before beginning to make money. “All they want is quick money. For anyone to be able to acquire meaningful skill in most vocations nowadays, it will require a minimum training of at least three years. But how many of our youths are ready to make such sacrifice. Majority of them cannot; that is why they find it difficult to take up apprenticeship training as it is evident in our country nowadays,” Mr. Lemboye stated.
Mr. Lemboye shares a similar view with Mr. Bolarinwa, a fashion designer who noted that today’s youth are not ready to get engaged in any vocation that holds no promise for immediate financial rewards. Unlike what obtained in the past when master-trainers often decided when their apprentices would be considered qualified for autonomy, Bolarinwa said the few youths who show interest in undergoing apprenticeship do not show appreciable commitment to their training.
“They are always in haste to be independent. That is why you see most of them failing to live up to expectation when they eventually become independent. For example, hardly will see a tailoring apprentice who is ready to commit himself or herself to a long-term training programme. Once they understand how to thread the sewing machine and spend, let’s say six months, they will assume that are already qualified to be on their own and subsequently they stop coming,” he stated.
Besides impatience and the inordinate quest for quick money, Bolarinwa also identified unwholesome company and negative peer influence as other reason today’s youth no longer show keen interest in acquiring vocational training. “Most of our youths today are distracted by the bad company they keep. The moment they are introduced to hard drugs by their wayward friends, it becomes very difficult to get them concentrate on their training any longer,” he posited.
There is, however, a school of thought which blames the trend on the hardship in the land. Mr Adeleke Amidu Abiodun, a metal fabricator, said poverty ranks high among the factors responsible for dying apprenticeship culture in Nigeria. According to him, the inability of most parents to provide their children with basic necessities makes it difficult for them to compel such children to embrace vocational training. “When the parents fail to live up to their responsibilities due to hardship, it will be very difficult for them to impose their will on them (their children). For instance, parents need to support their children who are undergoing apprenticeship training with allowance for transport and feeding but where they cannot provide such support, it will be very difficult to mandate them to focus on their training,” Abiodun posited.
Unlike most master-artisans who have to contend with the challenge of dearth of apprentices, Abiodun is just one of the few artisans who are lucky to have supporting hands in the mould of apprentices. He, however, explained that having them around come at a price. “To have them around the workshop requires that I motivate them with stipends at intervals. For those who come at weekends, there is also a bonus for that. Without such support from me, it will be almost impossible to have them show the level of interest and commitment they have shown to their training,” he maintained.
In another breath, Abiodun said lack of incentives from government for local artisans and lack of protection for the local industry also contribute partly to the problem. “While we may blame the youth for not showing interest in learning trades, we should not lose sight of the fact that there is government dimension to this problem. In a country where the youths watch professional artisans struggling to survive, it will take more than persuasion to encourage them to take such career. Many people have ditched their vocation because they could not get support from government to expand their business. Added to this is lack of protection from government for the local artisans. There are so many things that can be produced locally but because our government continues to encourage the importation of these products, local producers are frustrated out of business. Hence the apathy our youths have toward vocational skills,” he stated.
A vocational educational trainer, Mrs Bridget Olaigbe traced the genesis of the problem to the incursion of commercial motorcycling into the Nigerian road transportation system some years back.
“This problem started the moment we allowed the operation of commercial motorcyclists in our transportation system. Youth who were supposed to subscribe to training in vocational skills in order to better their future began to see immediate opportunities of making money in commuting with motorcycles which they believe they can learn in a matter of hours or days as against occupations like tailoring, bricklaying, auto-mechanic, which have longer training span of about three to five years. Majority of them are not ready to see themselves under any master for that long period and because they want quick and easy money, they choose to follow the shorter route.” Olaigbe pointed out.
She also identified too much emphasis, which Nigerians place on academic certificates as another reason behind the dying culture of apprenticeship in the country. “We have more people taking the education route nowadays despite the deafening noise about the limited employment opportunities it offers. An average Nigerian youth will rather wait for years to be admitted into the university to study mechanical engineering rather than to “stoop so low” to acquire similar skill from a proficient but unlettered “baba mecho” in his neighbourhood.
To Adejare and Sodiya, personal losses and discomfort rank high among the fallouts of diminishing apprenticeship culture in Nigeria. Mrs Olaigbe, however, posited that there are indeed more troubling implications for the nation. The indisposition of the Nigerian youth to acquire skills in relevant vocations has been blamed for the dearth of skilled and proficient professionals in some skills in the country. “Vehicle owners, for example, can tell you what they sometimes go through to get some faults fixed whenever their vehicles break down. There was a time in my church when we had to park the church’s bus for several weeks because we couldn’t get the right person to fix it. I learnt that the person who eventually fixed the problem was brought from Ijebu-Ode.”
A human resource development expert and founder, Simply Exponential Consult Limited, Fayo Williams, views the challenge with a broader lens. According to her, the decline in apprenticeship culture in Nigeria is driven by a combination of materialism, shifting values, and structural challenges. “Many young people are increasingly drawn to get-rich-quick activities, such as internet fraud, social media trends, or content creation, which promise immediate financial rewards without the rigour of skill-building.
“ Formal education is also widely promoted as the superior route to success, sidelining vocational training in the eyes of both youths and parents. Furthermore, the migration of skilled artisans to urban areas has left gaps in mentorship in smaller towns.
“The apprenticeship system itself faces internal problems—apprentices are often treated like domestic servants, tasked with chores for their bosses or their families. Some also face unreasonable financial demands at the end of their training (often called “freedom”), with little to no support to start their own businesses. All these factors have combined to discourage many from embracing vocational learning as a viable career path,” Williams noted.
Williams noted that the shift away from apprenticeship has serious implications for Nigeria’s economy and youth development in the country. In her opinion, “as fewer people acquire hands-on technical and vocational skills, industries such as construction, fabrication, tailoring, and auto repair face growing labour shortages, leading to increased reliance on foreign-trained artisans or substandard local services.
“Unemployment rates remain high because many graduates lack practical, marketable skills, creating a mismatch between available jobs and workforce capabilities. This trend threatens the sustainability of indigenous knowledge transfer and slows down the development of a self-reliant economy”, she posited.
Speaking on solution to the challenge, Williams said reviving Interest in vocational training to reignite interest in vocational training, stakeholders must rebrand and modernise the image of skilled trades. This, she pointed out, will involve integrating entrepreneurship and digital literacy into vocational programs, creating visible pathways to financial independence and business ownership.
“Government and private sector collaborations can help provide start-up kits, incentives, and recognition to successful artisans, showcasing them as role models. Furthermore, formalising apprenticeship systems through certification, mentorship, and partnerships with schools can elevate their credibility and attract a younger, more ambitious demographic seeking alternative career routes,” she concluded.
In his own view, a public analyst Mr Ithan Onyekwere pointed out that the worsening unemployment situation in the country might not abate unless Nigerians de-emphasise academic certification and shift attention to vocational training and skill acquisition. He described a situation where millions of Nigerian youths roam the streets in search of unavailable white collar jobs while millions of other Nigerians are in need of technically-sound individuals to help them fix some problems and add value to their living as ironic and worrisome. “It is both ironic and worrisome that where thousands of thousands of graduates in Nigeria are looking for white collar jobs all over the town, there are millions of other Nigerians who are in need of the services of individuals with special skills. The earlier we realise that prosperity is drifting in the direction of technical and vocational skills and away from paper certification the better for us,” he stated.
Onyekwere said reviving the culture of apprenticeship requires the input of all strata of the society, starting from the family to the government. He called on parents to encourage their children to develop interest in vocational skills right from a tender age.
“Everything should not be about formal education. Parents can encourage their children to take up vocational training during holiday periods. By the time they finish secondary school they can then spare some months to complete their training before furthering their education. When they graduate from school they can easily have something to fall on while searching for their dream job,” he said.
At the community level, Onyekwere said skill acquisition programmes can be instituted for youths periodically in the neighbourhood in conjunction with local politicians. “The CDAs or CDCs may launch such schemes and partner with politicians in their locality. By doing this, our youth will start developing interest in vocational skills. Local, state and the federal government can also play a major role by providing support in forms of funding, resources and creating the enabling environment for skill acquisition to thrive again in Nigeria.”
