Something cheering caught my attention earlier this week. It came from the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu. First, it was about the Deputy Speaker indicating interest in presenting a bill for the establishment of a National Apprenticeship Scheme, and, secondly, another bill about adopting a second international language, outside the English language, as Nigeria’s official language. From reports published in The Sun, the deputy speaker made the disclosure when he received a delegation of Bildup Integrated Services, which paid him a visit.
“At the 10th House of Representatives, we anchor our legislative activities on the core principle of participatory governance. We are focused on delivering a regulatory environment that not only supports entrepreneurship development but also encourages commerce and facilitates the growth of the economy. It is in this vein that I acknowledge the calls for supporting legislation that institutionalizes the newly designed National Apprenticeship Scheme. Our legislative process is open to constructive dialogue, and we welcome your insights and recommendations. Together, let us work towards a bill that bridges the huge skills gap across the country while being the igniting point for an industrial revolution that Nigeria so dearly needs”. That was how the Deputy Speaker captured his vision for the apprenticeship scheme.
I was opportune to be at the second edition of the All Markets Conference of the Ndigboamaka Progressive Markets Association, which was held in Lagos last July where the Deputy Speaker and Prof Obiora Okonkwo, Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines shared the podium. On that day, Kalu shared his optimism about the potential of the apprenticeship scheme, more popular among the Igbo people as ‘Igba Boyi’, to become a major tool towards employment creation in Nigeria. Unknown to him, he was standing on the podium with Prof. Okonkwo, who had, in 2021, funded a major research study at the Business School of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, on the revitalization and reinvigoration of the Igbo apprenticeship scheme. In funding the study, Okonkwo expressed his conviction that the scheme has the capacity to become a major tool in addressing the problem of youth unemployment facing Nigeria, which a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2022 data put at 53.40 percent.
Prof. Okonkwo further reiterated his conviction last September when he called on the Federal Government to adopt the scheme in addressing youth unemployment. He said: “I will suggest that President (Bola Ahmed) Tinubu looks into this practice which has created quality and valuable human capital for our country as an avenue to tackle unemployment by creating a system of policy administration whereby graduates can be attached to businesses that are registered and willing to absorb these graduates to improve on their skills. You will be amazed at what the outcome will be.”
According to Prof. Okonkwo, “When a youth is engaged as an apprentice, he not only learns the nitty gritty of the trade type or how to buy and sell but also character formation as well as resource management skills… Don’t forget that a young boy who is engaged to a trade master, who teaches him how to trade, is also learning how to manage financial resources; he will learn aspects of home management and when he grows to become the head apprentice, he also learns how to manage human resources.
“Apprenticeship will also expose him to the knowledge of banking and stock management and supply chain management. He will learn bookkeeping and product sourcing. He will also be introduced to his master’s business partners abroad, thus improving his network. If he is interested in transportation and is attached to a transporter, he will learn every aspect of the business, including fleet management, spare parts sourcing and management, etc. The benefits are huge and interestingly, these are some of the subjects that people pay millions of naira to learn in business schools here and abroad. So, you see that even an apprentice who goes to learn welding has much more to learn than cutting and welding metals.”
According to Prof. Au Nonyelu, lead researcher in the study, Prof. Okonkwo’s strong conviction about the apprenticeship scheme was “corroborated by our research, that the traditional Igba Boyi scheme among the Igbo is an example of African indigenous entrepreneurship.” Nonyelu says “Nothing compares to the Igba Boyi, where a renowned master, a capitalist doing his business, will get a young lad, either within his kindred or even elsewhere, teach him his business, support him in the mastery of the trade, with money, credit line, and business network to start and grow his own business.”
The study found that the “apprenticeship has the potential to increase wealth for entrepreneurs, ensures expansion in private trade and industry and capacity for sustainable development” and also, “has a significant effect on business idea generation,” as well as “delivers a confirmed model, which can be modified and joined as a practice element of entrepreneurship that will lead to job and wealth creation as well as economic growth and development.”
This is where Kalu’s envisaged bill comes in handy as a measure to institutionalise the practice of apprenticeship, which such bodies and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), had indicated an interest in adopting as a way of boosting and upgrading the capacity of lawyers in the country. Therefore, the need for the bill is immediate as the government thinks through models to drive down the unemployment statistics of Nigeria. To push forward, Benjamin Kalu would have to obtain copies of the final report of the 2021 study, for himself and members of the House of Representatives, if he has not done so yet, to enable him and the lawmakers, whose input would be vital to the success of his envisaged bill, to have a better understanding of the findings of the study especially, the steps recommended by the researchers on how to make the scheme much more attractive to Nigerian youths so as to encourage them to make themselves available to participate in it, and, in the effort to tack unemployment in the country.