Page 1 of 12

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 02 Issue 7

July 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 29

Empirical Study of Vocational Training as a means of

Enhanced Employability in Ogun State, Nigeria

*Idowu, H. A. O. and **Soewu, O. A

1-2 Department of Management and Accounting, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife.

Nigeria.

E-mail: hidowu@cerd.gov.ng

E-mail: femi_soewu@yahoo.com

Abstract

The research was embarked upon to

find out the degree of relationships between

vocational training and the enhanced value

of employable interns in Ogun State,

Nigeria. Inferential and descriptive statistics

were used to analyse responses from 5 Local

Government Areas of Ogun Central

Senatorial district. Results showed that 6

different types of vocational training were

considered attractive and available for

interns. 68% of the interns were male while

32% were female. The age distribution

showed that respondents aged 20-30 years

participated most at 61.9% and the least

participation was from respondents aged 50

years and above. In terms of correlation

between vocational training and enhanced

employability, family nutrition (0.816), auto

mechanic work (0.724) and draughtmanship

(0.706) showed positive correlations and

mostly patronised while goldsmithing at (-

0.091) showed negative correlation. The

knowledge so gathered from training

equally affected post-training productivity in

the same dimension.

Keywords: vocational training,

employability, interns, small and medium

enterprises.

Introduction

The prospect for either a white or

blue collar jobs in Nigeria had continued to

diminish, leaving the employable youth the

option to acquire skills through vocational

training and subsequently venture into start- ups. Idowu (2015) therefore posited that the

adoption of appropriate training methods at

Vocational Training Centres with a view to

equipping trainees with requisite skills for

self employment such as to stem the tide of

growing unemployment has become

important to scholars.

Vocational training or education

could be described as any form of education

whose purpose is to prepare person(s) for

employment in an occupation or group of

occupations (Abdullahi, 2009). The growing

awareness about the need for vocational and

technical education, coupled with an

improved societal perception and interest

has culminated in demands for changes in

content, organization and delivery of

vocational and technical curricula to reflect

a new emphasis on technology (Uwaifo,

2001).

In another dimension, the degree of

employability depends largely on the

Page 2 of 12

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 02 Issue 7

July 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 30

important role of Small and Medium Scale

Enterprises (SMEs) as vehicle for

employment generation at the micro- economy level. SMEs, undoubtedly play

significant role in the development and

growth of various economies, as Salau

(2009), quoted by Idowu (2015) rightly

referred to them as “engine of growth” and

“catalysts for socio-economic

transformation of any country”. There is a

growing intervention by government to

provide conducive climate capable of

optimising the potentials of SMEs to

contribute to economic growth through the

development of a more skilled and skillful

workforce appropriately equipped to

compete more effectively in a global

environment (Devins and Johnson, 2002). In

the Nigerian context, Owualah and Obokoh

(2007) posited that an enterprise-based

curriculum in educational institutions in the

Niger Delta region of Nigeria could enhance

awareness, propel aspirational hands-on

activities and ultimately encourage

entrepreneurship by the region’s youths.

Safiriyu and Njogo (2012) alluded to the

opinion in their submission regarding the

contributions of SMEs to employment

creation and national development.

Research Questions

(i) What are the various types of

vocational training organized

for interns in Ogun;

(ii) To what extent has the

vocational training enhanced

trainees for employability;

Literature Review

Vocational Training is the

acquisition of skills and techniques in

chosen occupation or profession to enable an

individual earn a living. The national policy

on education (NPE, 2004) viewed vocational

education as training or retraining

programme, which is given in schools or

classes under public supervision and control.

As a system of education, it is predicated

upon the teaching and acquisition of skills

and places a demand on the professional or

expert use of hands. The teaching of skills at

formal sector existed in 2 types of

institutions initially established in Nigeria;

these are technical colleges and trade

centers. Technological advancements

engendered by wide adaptation of vocational

training have not been experienced by the

Nigerian economy. The Productivity level of

the SMEs has remained low and the

statement, “the workforce lack marketable

skills” still holds (Uwaifo, 2009).

Essentially, vocational training, Oranu

(1983) argued must be intense and handled

by those who know it, appreciate it and live

by it. In his contribution, Salau (2009)

submitted that vocational training has been

misconstrued only as those forms of

education or training that are considered

essential for the performance of specialised

occupational skills, adding that in reality,

vocational training includes all forms of

knowledge and training capable of

enhancing the productive ability of the

individual for employment, especially as its

focus and emphasis is to equip the trainee

for entry into an occupational life. It is

instructive to state that the teaching and

Page 3 of 12

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 02 Issue 7

July 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 31

practice of vocational education and training

suffered initial contempt from the society

arising from the traditional schools of

thought which perceived mechanical and

manual types of work as being mean and

reserved only for the individual whose

intelligent level was classified as below

average. A radical shift from this

contemptuous position however began at the

wake of the C20th with the universal

acceptance of the pragmatism school of

thought advanced by John Dewey who

advocated functional education and

exaltation of practice over theory (Rusk and

Scotland, 1979). The initial apathy to the

development of vocational training lingered

due to the fact that human beings usually

seek the course of action which attracts the

least resistance, until it became inevitable to

do otherwise. This position was

underscored by Kanfor (1986) in a

commentary on the educational system in

the United States of America in 1920 which

stated inter-alia that:

“for a long time, all boys were trained to be

President. Then for a while, all boys were

trained to be professional men. Now we are

training boys to get jobs. Concerned that

preparation for work had become

problematic in a modern industrial society,

reformers inside and outside the school

system became convinced that the central

task of the school was to train youth for jobs

and to integrate them into occupational

structure. In this regard, the hitherto literary

curriculum has given way to practical,

vocationally oriented courses with a view to

infusing the school with a new spirit of

vocationalism”.

Similarly, one of the proponents of

vocational reforms in the United States of

America noted that:

“School life should be permeated with the

idea that school is to prepare student for a

vocation and that vocation is to be wisely

selected”.

Consequently, vocational education and

training is offered at all levels of the

educational system in the USA. It is indeed

a federal project with an enabling legislation

which provided the legal framework for

curriculum development, provision of

infrastructure, supply of training materials,

administration and management of

vocational education (Logan, 1995). In

Nigeria, vocational training was considered

material and highly relevant to societal

needs, goals and values. Oranu (1995)

quoted in Ile, Asoegwu and Chukwugbo

(2005) asserted that before the advent of

Whiteman in Nigeria, labour and hard work

were glorious and highly esteemed.

However, the white-collar jobs of the

Whiteman gradually, but systematically

paved the way for the erosion of the dignity

of labour. It appears that gradually, the

functional and valuable traditional

vocational training that the Nigerian fore- fathers worked so hard to establish was

relegated to the background, as it was

referred to as “blue collar” job and

considered inferior to “white collar” jobs

that merely involved the use of “pen and

paper”. The colonial era witnessed the

introduction of formal education in 1842