Abstract

Nigeria’s commitment to improving the living standard of its citizens has led to the introduction of a long-term economic programme tagged Vision 20:2020. The vision consists of a set of objectives and programmes designed to launch the nation into the league of the 20 most developed economies of the world by the year 2020. A large quantum of professionals and skilled workers, especially in the building sector has been identified by several studies as critical for this aim to be realized. The current statistics which shows abysmally low number of craftsmen in the sector, however, calls for a review of existing mechanism put in place to provide the required skills. It is against this background this paper seeks to examine the current skill development efforts vis-a-vis the desired situations with a view to determining their capability to deliver the expected result. Data were sourced through literature search, institutional records and structured questionnaire administered on 500 randomly selected master craftsmen in Ibadan. Results show decline in the number of building apprentices and low enrolment of students in building related skills at the technical colleges and vocational centres of Nigerian tertiary institutions. The paper holds that for the nation to achieve its vision, drastic measures needed to be put in place. It concludes by highlighting some of these strategies.

Key words: Apprentice, building, craftsmen, technical education, technical and vocational skills.