EMPLOYMENT GENERATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN ABIA STATE

Abstract

It is pertinent to state that the objective of this study is to investigate the efficacy of employment generation and skill acquisition in Abia state with emphasis on shoe making enterprise in Aba. In Abia state, there is a strong realization that its business district need to improve for the state to achieve fast and sustained economic development. In this context, the Government of Abia state has incentivized urban reforms relating to urban governance, service delivery, financial management and devolution of functions to urban local bodies, linked to grants for infrastructure investments in the major. Despite the strong focus of the Abia state government rto reform business environment in Aba, the policy-makers are still struggling to evolve mechanisms to dovetail fast population and geographic growth with economic development, which has necessitated this study.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

The Four Year Plan viewed the generation of productive and gainful employment with decent working conditions on a sufficient scale to absorb our growing labour force as a critical element in the strategy for achieving inclusive growth. Specifically, the Abia state government aimed at generating 1 million work opportunities in her 1^st four years in office against the aggregate employment generation of 3 million work opportunities during the period 1999–2010 to 2010–2017. The data on total employment come from the results of the quinquennial surveys conducted by NSSO of which the last survey was for 2010–2011. The next is for 2012–18, the results of which will be available only in December 2018. It is, therefore, not possible to provide reliable estimates at this stage of the pace of employment creation beyond the said timeframe. An assessment of the performance on the employment front in the Mid-Term Assessment, therefore, has to be based on indirect indicators, which have a bearing on employment growth. Unemployment remains a major challenge of modern economies around the world today, Nigeria is no exception. Resulting from poor enterprise culture, the unemployment situation in Nigeria is now a major driver of poverty and social vices. The unemployment situation in Nigeria has assumed a multi-dimensional phenomenon cutting across all facets of age group, educational strata and geographies. Unemployment is unevenly distributed across the age groups with youth between the ages of 15- 24 carrying the greatest burden. More disturbing today, is the ever rising trend of youth unemployment in the country. In the world of over seven billion population, all the stakeholders, policy makers and governments at all levels are finding it difficult to tackle the enormous problems posed by unemployment. Petterson et al. (2006) The problems of employment have become a central global concern in recent times. This makes nearly all the governments and development partners to be fully engaged in finding a lasting solution to the problems. In the past, development planning efforts were concentrated on the development of a modern industrial sector. It was believed that this would serve the domestic market and facilitate the absorption of redundant or surplus workers in the urban economy. It was also the belief that rapid economic growth and development would be achieved. However, the ability of the modern industrial sector to absorb the migrants could not be realized. The inability of modern urban industries to generate a significant number of employment opportunities is one of the obvious failures of the development process in Nigeria over the last five decades. The public sector has not helped the situation in terms of employment generation due to the dwindling public sector revenue and the various reform measures that have led to downsizing in form of retrenchment. The foregoing makes the informal sector a better alternative for employment generation in the economy, the fact that has been recognized by scholars, policy makers and lately by the governments in developing countries. The informal sector therefore represents an important part of the economy and certainly of the labour market in most developing countries. It plays a major role in employment creation, production and income generation. It is widely believed that employment generation in the informal sector is a necessary survival strategy in countries that lack social safety nets and in the absorption of growing unemployed members of the labour force. Empirical enquiries have confirmed the vastness, resilience and dynamism of the sector (Akande and Akerele, 2008). The Nigerian government being in aware of this has undertaken various programmes, such as, National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and other employment generating activities. Employment generation forms the fulcrum of the 7-point agenda of the present administration in the country. It is the recognition of the efforts of government of Nigeria at combating employment problems that makes the World Bank (a development partner) to come up with a study on “Employment and Growth in Nigeria.” The study aims at assessing the impact of the recent strong growth performance on employment with a view to developing policies that are likely to strengthen the growth elasticity of employment and improve the quality of jobs. indicated that unemployment is one of the problems that face every developing economy which includes Nigeria. The effects are more pronounced among the teaming youths. Oviawe confirmed that more than half of Nigerian populations are under the age 30, this indicates that Nigerian economy is a youth driven economy. However, the youth in Nigeria are faced with the problems of unemployment, poverty, urbanization, lack of ability and skills needed to move the economy forward (Emeh, Nwanguna, and Abaroh. The challenges of unemployment and lack of necessary productive skills make the task of keeping body and soul together difficult, hence it negative impact on the nation developmental rate. With youth unemployment, Nigeria and the world at large appears to be heading towards a dangerous abyss that will defy all economic theories and postulations. According to Ossai and Nwalado, the emergence of high level of unemployment is caused by inconsistencies in the social economic policies of successive government, political instability, and corruption which become the bane of the developmental progress of the nation. Insecurity threatens the corporate existence of the nation via the terrorist (Boko Haram) activities, kidnapping and armed banditry which scare away prospective investors. World Bank report which analyses the annual population growth of Nigeria to be 3 percent made it expedient for the government and all the stakeholders to come out with a strategy to reduce the poverty rate in order to reduce the total number of the poor caused by joblessness and unemployment. In line with the above, Arogundade emphasized that entrepreneurship which would have saved the situation was not encouraged. It has been noticed that the philosophy of self-reliance and entrepreneurial skills are not included among the majority of tertiary educations in the country. The Nigeria Economic Report (NER) by World Bank [4] indicated that the number of poor Nigerians did not decrease between 2010/2011 and 2012/2013, remaining at 58 million. Oni and Daniya [6] are of the opinion that the unemployed Nigerians in other to help themselves have resulted to self-help thereby creating their own businesses. The readymade jobs provided by blue chips companies and government ministries are no longer there. Consequently, entrepreneurship is fast becoming a household name in Nigeria. Governments at all levels have persistently laid claimed to several jobs produced, yet the jobs are nowhere to be found by the massive youths. Declining economy resulting from corrupt practices, lack of entrepreneurial skills, job creations, marketable and productive skills have all been identified as the root causes of youth unemployment. The crux of the matter is that apart from the youth unemployment rate put at 23.9 percent in 2011, there is the problem of unemployable youth arising from gross incompetence. There is wide gap between employers’ needs and employees’ skills.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Available statistics tend to indicate that formal sector employment opportunities in Nigeria can no more keep pace with the number of entrants into the labour market. The informal sector of the economy has come to the rescue by providing employment and income for the youth and those retrenched from the formal sector employment (Akerele, 1997). It is found from studies that not less than 75% of the labour force is engaged in the informal sector activities (Akande and Akerele, op cit). The stagnation in the formal sector employment has increased the probability of those entering the labour market for the first time to be engaged in the informal sector. It is found that the growth rate of employment in the informal sector will be about 11% in the next five years (Akande and Akerele, op cit). This points to the fact that future employment of youth may be tilted towards the informal sector. Unfortunately, the informal sector activities are characterized by low productivity, poor quality of products, inadequate production equipment, and insufficient technical skills. The issue of technical skills should take a central position if low productivity and poor quality of products must be tackled. The increase in the number of graduates of technical institutions may have positive impact on productivity in the informal sector but the general low level of skills still affects the growth of the sector activities and impacts on income negatively. Bringing basic skills training programmes to workers in the informal sector can help to bring down poverty and unemployment levels, while improving economic growth. The development of relevant skills and knowledge is a major instrument for improved productivity, better working conditions, and the promotion of decent work in the informal economy. A better less work-intensive and safer technologies can raise the productivity and income, reduce work drudgery and occupational risks to health and safety, and improve products. New skills and knowledge can open doors to more economically and socially rewarding jobs (Marjo-Riitta, 2003). Basic life skills, such as numeracy and literacy, problem-solving and management, communication and negotiation skills, are required to improve confidence and capacity to explore and try new income-earning opportunities (ILO 2000). In addition, better educated entrepreneurs are generally also more responsive to policy measures, which is important for the sector’s development. Improving productivity is essential to the survival and growth of informal units. It is against this backdrop that the researcher intends to investigate the efficacy of employment generation and skill development in Abia state with emphasis on shoe making in Aba.

• RESEARCH QUESTION

To aid the successful completion of the study, the following research questions were formulated by the researcher;

1. Does skill development has any impact in employment generation in Abia state?
2. Does skill acquisition has any effect in employment generation

• Is there any relationship between employment generation and skill acquisition in Aba?

1. Does the government play any role in skill development in the state?
   • PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of the study is to ascertain the efficacy of employment generation and skill development in Abia state with emphasis on shoe making in Aba, but to aid the completion of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objective

1. To investigate the impact of skill development in job creation
2. To examine the effect skill acquisition in employment generation

• To examine the role relationship between employment generation and skill development in Abia state

1. Ascertain the role of government in skill development in the state

• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of great importance to Abia state ministry of labor and productivity as the findings tend to enumerate on the merit of skill acquisition in the state as the white collar job is not fought coming by, the study will also be useful to potential investors to tap into the stream of opportunity that is available on the shoe making sector in Aba, Abia state. The study will also be beneficial to researchers who intend to embark on study in a similar topic as the study will serve as a reference point for further research, finally, the study will be of immense benefit to student, teachers, lecturers and the general public as the study will add to the pool of existing literature in the subject matter.

• SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers employment generation and skill development in Abia state with case study on shoe making in Aba. The primary data for the study were gathered from shoe makers in Areara, Ogbo hill and Abai.

• LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study employment generation and skill development was limited to Aba, Abia state, and there were other factors that limited the scope of the study;

1. a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
2. b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
3. c) Finance: the finances at the disposal of the researcher was very limited as such could not finance a broader scope of the study

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Employment

Employment is a relationship between two parties, usually based on a contract where work is paid for, where one party, which may be a corporation, for profit, not-for-profit organization, co-operative or other entity is the employer and the other is the employee

Skill

A skill is the ability to carry out a task with determined results often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills.

Skill development

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship development efforts across the country have been highly fragmented so far.

Employment generation

Creating jobs is a keystone of any economic recovery program. Many activities can fall under the rubric of job creation, including immediate short-term opportunities that yield quick impact, or the development of more enduring livelihoods in the civil service or private sector

1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study

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