CONTRIBUTION OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF EMPLOYMENT (NDE) TO UNEMPLOYMENT REDUCTION IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA (2011-2015)

ABSTRACT

The issue of unemployment is at the front burner of policy discussions in both developed and developing countries today. This is because, when left unchecked, the scourge of unemployment has the capacity to destabilize the most peaceful of societies and crash the most buoyant of economies. The study assessed the contribution of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to unemployment reduction in Ekiti State between 2011 and 2015. The NDE was created in 1986 to combat mass unemployment in Nigeria and has been operating a state office in Ekiti State since 1998. In pursuant of its mandate, the NDE designed schemes such as the National

Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS), the Enterprise Start-up Development Training Scheme (ESDTS) and the Micro Business Skills Training Scheme (MBSTS), among others, which are aimed at imparting job-specific skills to beneficiaries. However, despite the continued implementation of these schemes in Ekiti State, the rank of the unemployed in the state keeps swelling by the day. In the course of the study, three hypotheses were formulated: HO₁:the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) has not significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ekiti State; HO₂: the Enterprise Start-up and Development Training

(ESDT) Scheme has not significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ekiti State; HO₃: the Micro Business Skills Training (MBST) Scheme has not significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ekiti State. Data were sourced from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were obtained through administered questionnaires and interviews; analysed using tables, frequency counts, simple percentages and content analysis. The hypotheses were tested using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and

Spearman‟s Correlation at 0.05 level of significance. The secondary data were obtained from NDE Annual Reports. The results of the tested hypotheses study showed that while the NOAS has significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ekiti State, the same cannot be said of the ESDTS and the MBSTS. Interview responses however contradict the result of the tested hypothesis that the NOAS has significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State as all of the respondents disagreed with the notion. The findings of the study also revealed that NDE activities in the state are mainly concentrated in the state capital and, as such, little impact of the NDE is felt in the rural areas – a situation that largely limits the NDE‟s capacity to reduce mass unemployment in the state through its skill acquisition schemes. The study concluded that the sole concentration of NDE activities in Ado-

Ekiti Local Government Area limits the Directorate‟s capacity to significantly reduce mass unemployment in Ikole Local Government Area through its skill acquisition schemes. To this end, the study recommended that the NDE should extend its physical presence to Ikole Local Government Area and other rural areas of Ekiti State.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Item                                                                                                                                            Page

Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………………..i

Declaration…..……………………………………………………………………………………ii

Certification………..……………………………………………………………………………iii

Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………..iv

Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………………..v

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..vi

Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………….viii List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………….…xii

List of Figures……………………….……………………………………….………………..…xv

List of Appendices……………………………………………………………….……….……xvi

List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………….…….…..xvii

CHAPTER ONE:  INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study…..…………………………………..………………….…..…1

1.2        Statement of the Research Problem…..……….………………………..……….……….4

1.3        Research Questions……..………………..….………………………..….………………7

1.4       Objectives of the Study….……………………………..………….……………………..8

1.5        Research Hypotheses…..……….…………………………….…………………….…….9

1.6        Significance of the Study….…………………..…………………..……………….…….9

1.7        Scope and Limitations of the Study…..……………….…………….……….………….11

1.8        Definition of Concepts….……………………………………………………………………12

1.9        Organisation of Chapters…..……………………………………………………………13

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1        Introduction…..……………………………………………………………………..…..14

2.2.1     Unemployment…..….……………………………………………………………………14

2.2.2     Skill Acquisition……………….………………………………………………………….16

2.2.3     Loans………………………………………………………………………………….…19

2.2.4    Employment…………………………………………………………………….…..……20

2.2.5     Review of Related Studies on NDE Efforts at Unemployment Reduction……………22

2.3       Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………….………..……28

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1        Introduction…..…………………………………………………………………..……..36

3.2        Research Design…..……………………………………………………..………….……36

3.3        Population and Sample Size of the Study….………………………………………..…36

3.4        Sampling Technique ….……………….………………………………………………….37

3.5       Sources of Data…..……………………………………………………………………….38

3.6        Administration of Instrument…..………………………………………………………..39

3.7       Methods of Data Presentation and Analysis…..…………….………………..………..39

CHAPTER FOUR: AN OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF

EMPLOYMENT (NDE)

4.1        Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………….41

4.2        The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) ………..……………………………..41

4.3       Mandate/Functions of the NDE……..………………………………………………….42

4.4        NDE Programmes/Implementation Strategies………………………………………..43

4.5        Structure/Organogram of the NDE……………….…………………………………..53

4.6        Achievements of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).…………………..57

4.7         Challenges Facing the National Directorate of Employment (NDE)………….……..60

CHAPTER FIVE: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

5.1        Introduction……………………………………..………………………………………62

5.2        Administration of Questionnaires……………………………………………………..62

5.3        Analysis of Demographic Data and Discussion……………………………………….65

5.4        Contribution of the NOAS to Unemployment Reduction in Ekiti State……………65

5.5         Test of Hypothesis One………………………………………………………….……..76

 

5.6         Contribution of the ESDTS to Unemployment Reduction in Ekiti State…………..77

5.7         Test of Hypothesis Two………..……………………………………………………….84

5.8         Contribution of the MBSTS to Unemployment Reduction in Ekiti State………….86

5.9         Test of Hypothesis Three……….………………………………………………………92

5.10      Discussion……….……………..………………………………………………………..93

5.11      Major Findings……………………….…………………………………………………98

CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1        Introduction……………………………………………………………………………101

6.2       Summary………………………….……………………………………………………101

6.3        Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..102

6.4 Recommendations……………………………………………………………………..104 References………………………………………………………………………………………106 Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………112

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1        Background to the Study

Nigeria is blessed with abundant human and natural resources. Her wealth in resources is, however, yet to translate to development, due largely to the inability of her people and government to meaningfully mobilise her many endowments for transformational development. This leads to wanton waste of precious resources, chief among which is human resources. The waste of human resources in Nigeria manifests in the reality that many able-bodied people in the country, especially the youth, are unemployed due either to limited opportunities or the lack of skills to exploit the available opportunities. As a result, thousands of Nigerians, in cities and villages, roam the streets, day-in-day-out, searching fruitlessly for a means of livelihood. Their inability to find decent means of living ultimately force many among them to engage in nefarious activities in order to eke out a living. According to Dalhatu and Bagaji (2014: 63), the Boko Haram insurgency which the government is currently trying to rein in in the North Eastern part of Nigeria came into existence as a result of the high rate of unemployment in the country.

Nigeria occupies the enviable position of being not only the most populous country in Africa with a population of 140,431,790 persons as at 2006 and an estimated population of 187,301, 926 persons as at 2015, but also that of having the largest economy on the continent with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 568.51 billion US dollars in 2014 (www.population.gov.ng; www.unicef.org; NBS, 2017: 3; Mayomi and Omachoko, 2017: 162). With this knowledge, Eme

(2014: 103) submits that “Nigeria has no business being among the poor nations of the world. But in reality, this dreaded scenario is the naked truth that stares unashamedly on the faces of everyone living in the polity.” According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2012: 11), 69 percent of Nigeria‟s estimated population of 163 million, equating to 112.47 million Nigerians, live in poverty. One of the main reasons for this is the grossly inadequate employment opportunities in the country, especially for the teeming youths among whom the unemployment rate has remained alarmingly high. In the words of Adebisi and Oni (2012: 29), “lack of employment opportunities in Nigeria has resulted in poverty, in turn; poverty leads to alienation of poor people from political-economic functioning of the society.” This phenomenon – massive unemployment in Nigeria, Ajayi (2015: 62) submits, has led to a waste of human resources and a great burden to the society.

With average rates of unemployment rising from 2.0 percent and 4.5 percent in the 1960s and

1970s respectively, to 8.5 percent in 1985, 10.0 percent in 1986 and 12.2 percent in 1987

(National Bureau of Statistics, 2006 as cited in Amupitan 2011; Ogunmela, 2012), the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 26^th of March, 1986 constituted  a committee known as the Chukwuma Committee, to consider appropriate strategies for dealing with the mass unemployment problem in the country under the aegis of the Ministry of Employment, Labour and Productivity. The report of the committee led to the institution of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in November 1986. The Directorate was charged with the following mandates: to design and implement programmes to combat mass unemployment; to articulate policies aimed at developing work programmes with labour intensive potentials; to obtain and maintain a data bank on vacancies and employment opportunities in the country with other government agencies; and to implement any other policy as may be laid down from time to time by the Directorate (Adebisi and Oni, 2012: 30).

The philosophy of the National Directorate of Employment is self-enterprise, which emphasizes self-employment and self-reliance in preference to wage employment. This is in pursuance of the mandate given to the Directorate as is seen in the 1987 budget speech of the then Nigerian president, General Ibrahim Babangida, who directed the newly-created body to concentrate on self-employment, organisation of artisans into cooperatives, and encouragement of the culture of maintenance and repairs. This philosophy is pursued through policy planning and wellarticulated programmes of: Vocational Skills Development Programme (VSD); Rural

Employment Promotion Programme (REP); Small Scale Enterprise Programme (SSE); and the Special Public Works Programme (SPW) (Adebisi and Oni, 2012; Amupitan, 2011).

These programmes are further delineated into schemes and job categories. The Vocational Skills

Development Programme (VSD), for example, consists of schemes such as the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS), School-On-Wheels (SOW), Resettlement Loan Scheme (RLS),

Partnership in Skills Training (PIST), Skill Acquisition Training Centres (SATC), Community Based Training Scheme (CBTS), inter alia, while the Small Scale Enterprise Programme (SSE) is made up of Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP), Enterprise Start-Up Development Training Scheme (ESDTS), Enterprise Creation Fund for Graduates, Micro

Business Skills Training Scheme (MBSTS), and Women Employment Promotion (WEP) (www.nde.org.ng).

The activities of the Directorate started in 1998 in Ekiti State. It covers all the Local Government Areas of the State and most of its activities were carried out on senatorial basis to allow even distribution of the programs. The prospective beneficiaries of NDE programmes in Ekiti State include the unemployed youths, graduates and school leavers, the retiree, matured people who are unemployed (Toluwalase and Omonijo, 2013: 16). This study examines the contribution of the National Directorate of Employment to unemployment reduction in Ado and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State.

1.2        Statement of the Research Problem

One of the most critical problems facing contemporary Nigeria is mass unemployment (Ajayi,

2014: 61). Mass unemployment, as a social issue, has been a major challenge to Nigeria and

Nigerians for decades now, with the unemployment rate hovering around two-digit figures. From

8.5 percent in 1985, the national unemployment rate in the country rose to 11.9 per cent in 2005, 12.7 percent in 2007, 14.9 percent in 2008, 19.7 per cent in 2009, 21.4 percent in 2010, and 23.9 percent in 2011 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2012: 395). In the second quarter of 2015, the unemployment rate in the country stood at 8.2 percent, equating to 6.06 million unemployed persons, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (2015). Between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, the number of unemployed persons in Nigeria rose from 5.53 million to 9.49 million with the unemployment rate between these two periods rising from 7.5 percent to 12.1 percent (NBS, 2016). According to Durotoye (2014: 126), “the unemployment crisis in Nigeria is so severe that over 100,000 youths sometimes jostle for 25 vacancies.” This submission is further corroborated by a report published by the National Bureau of Statistics which states that the unemployment rate among youths between the ages of 15 and 24 in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2016 stood at 21.5 percent, the highest among any age groups (NBS, 2016). Other testaments to this are the 705,352 applications received by the Police Service Commission (PSC) from persons seeking employment into the advertised 10,000 vacancies in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) less than three weeks into the recruitment exercise and the 403,528 successful registrations by unemployed persons on the online job portal of the Federal

Government – www.npower.gov.ng – within the first 36 hours after the portal was opened (Yahaya, 2016; Ameh, 2016). In addition, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (2012: 395), the rate of unemployment among economically active Nigerians between the youthful ages of 15-24 stood high at 37.7 percent in 2011 while among those within the age bracket of 25-44 years, the unemployment rate was 22.4 percent. For Nigerians within the ages of 45 and 59, the rate of unemployment stood at 18 percent while it was 21.4 percent among those within the age bracket of 60 and 64. The translation of this is that Nigerians between the youthful ages of 15 and 24 are those mostly affected by unemployment and are, as such, more vulnerable to its attendant consequences. This evidence is supported by the World Bank (2016) which reports that the unemployment rate among Nigerians between the ages of 15-24 was 13.8 percent in 2011,

13.7 percent in 2012, 13.6 percent in 2013, and 13.6 percent in 2014.

To tackle the unemployment menace, the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1986 established the National Directorate of Employment, and its programmes were launched nationwide the following year (www.nde.org.ng). In pursuance of its mandate, the National Directorate of Employment, through its various schemes and programmes empowered 3,899,003 unemployed persons in Nigeria between 1986 and 2014 (NDE 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Annual Reports). However, despite its continued operation and financing – the NDE was allocated N5,905,302,638 in the 2016 budget proposal (2016 Appropriation Bill: 677), the unemployment rate in Nigeria keeps rising.

The unemployment rate in Ekiti State is not any better than the national average. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2012: 296), the unemployment rate in Ekiti State was 11.4 percent in 2007, 11.5 percent in 2008, 20.6 percent in 2009, 20.8 percent in 2010 and 12.1 percent in 2011. Going by the percentage of the national population that is under 30 years of age – 59.2 percent according to the National Bureau of Statistics (2012: 68), one can rightly posit that the youth in Ekiti are those mostly affected by the high rate of unemployment in the state.

To address the unemployment scourge in Ekiti State, the National Directorate of Employment, through its Ado-Ekiti office, over the years embarked on the training of people in the state through its empowerment programmes. In 2010, there were 5,292 beneficiaries (3,180 male and 2,112 female) of NDE schemes and programmes in Ekiti State. The number of beneficiaries stood at 6,984 in 2011; 3,956 in 2012; 599 in 2013, 2,077 in 2014 and 446 in 2015. Specifically, 886 persons (448 male and 438 female) were trained under the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) in Ekiti State in 2010; 380 persons (249 male and 131 female) in 2011; 430 persons (230 male and 100 female) in 2012; 300 persons (181 male and 119 female) in 2013; 435 persons (219 male and 216 female) in 2014 and 308 beneficiaries (155 make and 153 female) in 2015. Under the Start Your Own Business Scheme (now Enterprise Start-up

Development Training Scheme), the NDE in Ekiti State empowered 66 persons (all male) in

2012 and 22 persons (12 male and 10 female) in 2013. Similarly, under the Basic Business Training Scheme (now Micro Business Skills Training Scheme), 121 persons (15 male and 106 female) were empowered by the NDE in Ekiti State in 2013. Other NDE schemes and programmes have beneficiaries whose number in Ekiti State runs into thousands when combined (NDE 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Annual Reports; www.nde.org.ng; NBS, 2017: 89).

However, despite the sterling performance of the NDE in Ekiti State that available data depicts, especially that of instant employment generating schemes such as the National Open

Apprenticeship, the Micro Business Skills Training and the Enterprise Start-up Development Training schemes of the NDE that were created to enable beneficiaries become instant entrepreneurs who, upon graduation, create jobs in the society by starting Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), which “create 4 out of 5 new positions, contribute up to 45 percent of total employment and up to 33 percent of national income (GDP),” in emerging economies like Nigeria, according to the World Bank (2015), the rate of unemployment among people living in the Ekiti State remains high. It is against this background that this study assesses the contribution of the NDE to unemployment reduction in Ekiti State, with focus on Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas.

1.3        Research Questions

The NDE has various schemes aimed at empowering people for job creation. These include the

National Open Apprenticeship Scheme, School-On-Wheels Scheme, the Waste-to-Wealth

Scheme, the Resettlement Loan Scheme, the Community Based Training Scheme, THE Enterprise Startup Development Training Scheme, the Micro Business Skills Training Scheme, the Loans Disbursement Scheme, Advanced Entrepreneurial Development Scheme, the Graduate Attachment Programme, the Environmental Beautification Training Scheme, the Renewable Energy Training Scheme, the Rural Agricultural Development Training Scheme, inter alia.

However, this study examines the three schemes of the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme, the Enterprise Startup Development Training Scheme, and the Micro Business Skills Training Scheme – selected for the instant employment generating capacities. In light of this, the following research questions were generated:

1. To what extent has the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State?
2. To what extent has the Enterprise Start-up and Development Training (ESDT) Scheme of the NDE contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State?
3. To what extent has the Micro Business Skills Training (MBST) Scheme of the NDE contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State?

1.4        Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to assess the contribution of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State between 2011 and 2015.

The specific objectives are:

1. To determine the extent to which the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State
2. To ascertain the extent to which the Enterprise Start-up and Development Training (ESDT) Scheme of the NDE has contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State
3. To determine the extent to which the Micro Business Skills Training (MBST) Scheme of the NDE has contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local

Government Areas of Ekiti State

1.5        Research Hypotheses

The hypotheses are stated in null form. They are:

H0₁:that the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) has not significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State

H0₂: that the Enterprise Start-up and Development Training (ESDT) Scheme has not significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State

H0₃:      that the Micro Business Skills Training (MBST) Scheme has not significantly contributed to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State

 1.6       Significance of the Study

Previous studies carried out in the study area focus on specific areas that are related to the present study but not exactly on the contribution of the National Directorate of Employment to unemployment reduction in Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government areas of Ekiti State. Assessing the contribution of the NDE – a major government employment agency – to unemployment reduction is very important because, according to Amire and Ngwama (2015:

188) “analysis indicates that unemployment in Nigeria is on the increase and only youth development and empowerment can mitigate this problem”; empowerment and human capital development are what the NDE exist for.

Toluwalase and Omonijo (2013), for example, centred their study on evaluating the role of the NDE in alleviating poverty among arable farmers in Ekiti State while Ajayi (2015) beamed his searchlight on graduate unemployment and criminality in Ado-Ekiti.

Amupitan (2011), on his part, assessed the role of the NDE in reducing graduate unemployment in Kaduna State while Ukoha, Osuji, Osuji and Ibeagwa (2014) embarked on the analysis of the influence of the skills acquisition programmes of the NDE on job creation in Abia State.

Adebisi and Oni (2012) came close to addressing the themes of the present study by assessing the relevance of NDE training programmes to the needs of trainees in Southwestern Nigeria, but their study is too broad in scope for specificity.

Furthermore, this study covers the period between 2011 and 2015. According to Aiyedogbon and Ohwofasa (2012), between 2005 and 2010, the unemployment rate in Ekiti State rose from 7.5 percent to 22.6 percent but later dropped to 12.1 percent in 2011. Added to this is the submission of the National Bureau of Statistics and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development that, in

2012, the unemployment rate among Nigerian youths stood high at 54 percent (Durotoye, 2014: 125). Hence, this study sought to fill the gap left in the aforementioned studies by assessing the contribution of the NDE to the reduction of the unemployment rate in Ado and Ikole Local Government Areas of Ekiti State between 2011and 2015, as well as seek to know what exactly the NDE in Ekiti State has done within the study period to empower people in the state as a way of reducing the state‟s unemployment rate.

The study will add value to knowledge as it will enrich the available literature on the themes of

“the National Directorate of Employment” and “unemployment reduction” (in Ekiti State). As a result, it will be of benefit to students of public administration, administrators, policy makers, politicians, researchers and the general public.

In addition, given the essentiality of the mandate with which the NDE was at inception bestowed, it is apt to assess, periodically, the establishment to ascertain whether it is achieving its goals or not – and what better time to do this than in its thirtieth year in existence?

 

 

1.7 Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study covers a period of five years, that is, 2011-2015. This period was chosen because 2011, the start of the study period, was the year in which there was a sharp drop in the unemployment rate in Ekiti State to 12.1 percent from 20.8 percent in 2010. The study examined

NDE‟s contribution to the drop as well as look into the activities of the NDE between 2011 and 2015. The study focused on Ado-Ekiti and Ikole Local Government Areas (LGAs). Ado Local Government Area, which is an urban area, is the most populous LGA in Ekiti State with a population of 313,690 persons as at 2006. Ikole LGA is predominantly a rural area and the fourth most populous LGA in Ekiti State with a population of 170,414 people as at 2006 (National Population Commission, 2006 cited in National Bureau of Statistics, 2012: 33). As such, the study also examines NDE activities, under the NOAS, the ESDTS and the MBSTS, in the two local government areas (LGAs), with the aim of ascertaining the direct impact of the schemes in in the two LGAs.

The context of the study is restricted to the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) under the Vocational Skills Development Programme of the NDE, in addition to the Enterprise

Start-up and Development Training (ESDT) Scheme and the Micro Business Skills Training

(MBST) Scheme under the Small Scale Enterprise Programme (SSE) of the NDE. The choice of the three schemes is justified on the basis of their instant employment-generating capacities. The NDE efforts at unemployment reduction – the three schemes of NOAS, ESDTS, and MBSTS – which this study addresses are concerned with empowerment through the acquisition of marketable and job-specific skills; the disbursement of loans and the provision of equipment for NDE beneficiaries for business start-ups.

The study is not without some limitations. One of these is the lack of data on the unemployment rates in Ekiti State in the years: 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Another limitation encountered in the course of the study was inconsistent data. Many times, publications published/released by the NDE present conflicting data on the same scheme or programme – the study tried as much as possible to reconcile the information obtained and where this is not possible, the data are presented as obtained.

1.8        Definition of Concepts

1. Unemployment Reduction: Unemployment, in this study, is said to have reduced when those who were erstwhile unemployed are gainfully employed, while applying the skills gained under the NOAS, ESDTS or the MBSTS.
2. National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS): NOAS is an NDE vocational training scheme in which beneficiaries are attached to self-employed master-craftsmen and women in different trades, who train them in these trades, for months until they attain proficiency. Training under NOAS takes place in phases: practical training conducted for beneficiaries at the workshops on weekdays; theoretical training conducted every

Saturday at the NDE office in Ado-Ekiti.

3. Enterprise Startup and Development Training Scheme (ESDTS): ESDTS is an entrepreneurship training scheme conducted by the NDE for graduates of tertiary institutions desiring to take up self-employment.
4. Micro Business Skills Training Scheme (MBSTS): MBSTS is a rudimentary business training scheme conducted by the NDE for school leavers and artisans desiring to take up self-employment

1.9       Organisation of Chapters

This dissertation is presented in six (6) chapters, covering all aspects of the study, from the introduction to the summary, conclusion and recommendations.

Chapter one captures the general introduction and background to the study, which highlights the unemployment rates in Nigeria and Ekiti State over the years as well as the establishment of NDE to curb mass unemployment. The chapter further looks at the statement of problem, the objectives of the study, the hypotheses to be tested, significance of the study, and the scope and limitations of study.

Chapter two explores the literature review and the theoretical framework for the study. The overview includes concepts of unemployment, skill acquisition, access to loan, and employment; a review of some empirical studies that have been conducted on the NDE and its activities; and theoretical framework by employing David Easton‟s System Theory.

Chapter three covers the discussion of research methodology. This includes the research design adopted for the study, the population and sample size of the study, sampling technique, method of data collection, administration of instrument and, finally, the methods used in data presentation and analysis.

Chapter four traces the history of the NDE, highlights the objectives of NDE, discusses the programmes and structure of the NDE, as well as its achievements and challenges.

Chapter five is exclusively for the presentation and analysis of the data collected from the field and used to test the hypotheses earlier postulated in this work.

Chapter six is the concluding chapter. It contains a summary of the findings of the study, the conclusion drawn from the analysis of data and the recommendations proffered on the basis of the research findings.

 

CONTRIBUTION OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF EMPLOYMENT (NDE) TO UNEMPLOYMENT REDUCTION IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA (2011-2015)

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