Apprenticeship practices and sustainable economic growth in Nigeria (A study of selected automobile mechanic, Worshops in Lagos State)

The essence of this study ‘apprenticeship practices and sustainable economic growth in Nigeria is to unveil the opportunities for economic growth in Nigeria through apprenticeship practices. The problem statement led to the formulation of the specific objectives of the study which include to investigate the employment generation capacities of apprenticeship practices of SMEs and to ascertain whether apprentice practices contribute to poverty reduction in Nigeria through SMEs. Two research questions were drawn from these objectives. The study revolves around conceptual definition of the dependent variables of economic growth: unemployment and poverty which were used to conceptually review this work. The study anchors on theoretical frame work of cognitive apprenticeship theory. Out of the seventy registered automobile mechanics in Mushin Mechanics union, fifty copies of the questionnaire were distributed to selected members from different automobile mechanics, 37 of them were retrieved and found valid for the study. A total of 6 questions were structured and distributed randomly to selected masters of the apprentices. The achievement of the stated objectives employed the use of Chi-square statistical test to an a use the data. The findings indicate that apprenticeships practices do create employment in Nigeria and also contribute to poverty reduction in Nigeria. Based on the findings, the researchers recommend that Government should strengthen its National Youth Development Policies to focus on empowering the youths at the grassroots level by providing entrepreneurship education through Vocational Education Training.