This paper focuses on the influence the acceptance of the National Business and Technical Education Board (NABTEB) certificate for admission into the Nigerian universities and polytechnics has on the supply of craftsmen labour to the construction industry market. The research quantitatively verified the extent to which the main mission of producing craftsmen for the industry is being pursued by the Technical Schools in Nigeria, Data on the number of students that finished from all Technical Schools annually in the years (2010 - 2014) were collected from NABTEB. Data on the number of students admitted with NABTEB certificates into the universities and Polytechnics over the same period were also collected from the sampled Universities and Polytechnics. Analysis of these data was done using percentages. The results revealed downward trends in the number of students enrolled for NABTEB exams and in the percentage passes. While up to 14% of students in the Polytechnic were admitted with NABTEB certificates, about 24% of the Universities of Technology admissions were NABTEB certificate holders. This trend deprives the construction industry of the needed quantity of trained craftsmen. It was recommended that Nigerian governments should take some urgent steps to reduce the scarcity of manpower of that cadre in the industry.

Keywords: Keywords: Construction Labour Market, NABTEB, Technical Education, Technical Manpower.