CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Employability is a person’s capacity to obtain and keep work, or to create it. Self-reliance is the capacity to earn a living and meet one’s needs without continuing dependence on others. Both concepts have become central to Nigeria’s education policy because of persistent unemployment and underemployment, particularly among adults with little formal schooling who cannot compete for white-collar jobs. Awoniyi and Aromolaran (2025), in a scoping review, note that as unemployment and economic weakness increase in Nigeria, vocational education has become crucial for equipping people with abilities in specific occupations and enabling them to rely on themselves. They found that vocational education addresses the skill gap and provides both soft and technical skills for lasting income, but that inadequate financial support, weak infrastructure and ineffective policies hold back its impact.

Vocational education for adults is offered through the non-formal system that NMEC coordinates, in cooperation with State Agencies and partners. It covers trades such as tailoring, hairdressing, catering, soap and cosmetics production, carpentry, welding, computer operation and agro-processing, and usually combines skills with basic literacy, numeracy and entrepreneurship. Ali (2024) presents adult education as an alternative option for accelerated socio-economic development of Nigeria, and the Fifth Global Report on Adult Learning and Education stresses that adult learning should equip adults to take part in economic life (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning [UIL], 2022). The Marrakech Framework for Action similarly urges adult learning that responds to learners’ needs, including skills for work and livelihoods (UNESCO, 2022).

Ekpo et al. (2024) report from Akwa Ibom State that adult education, including vocational training, has a significant and direct impact on entrepreneurial development by building skills for small and medium enterprises and creating employment opportunities, but that inadequate funding, policy inconsistency, poorly qualified teachers, low enrolment and lack of materials and infrastructure weaken it. In contrast, Nwodo et al. (2026) found that, in the adult literacy centres they studied in Plateau State, vocational skills such as bead making, hairdressing, tailoring, soap making, pomade making and carpentry were largely not offered, and that supervision and resources were inadequate. Barasa et al. (2026) found that adult education strengthens rural women’s economic agency in southern Ethiopia through literacy, entrepreneurial and financial-management skills, but identified barriers and recommended vocational integration and better infrastructure. Oroka et al. (2024) have also examined the effect of media literacy on entrepreneurial development of learners in adult and vocational education, showing growing interest in linking learners’ skills to enterprise. Babajide et al. (2023) highlight the importance of financial literacy and capabilities for small business owners in Nigeria.

The role of literacy, numeracy and business knowledge alongside trade skills is also stressed in the literature. Belete et al. (2022) report that African community learning centres usually combine literacy, vocational and income-generation programmes, and cite entrepreneurship and skills development among reported outcomes. Yet Kolawole and Pusoetsile (2022) found no significant difference in literacy attainment between participants and non-participants in an adult basic education programme in Botswana, which they attributed to implementation weaknesses, a reminder that programmes do not automatically deliver results.

Much of the recent Nigerian evidence on vocational education is about youths and formal technical schools, or about single states. There is little evidence that focuses on NMEC’s vocational education programmes and on adult learners’ employability and self-reliance. This study fills the gap, using the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, where NMEC is headquartered and where both urban and peri-urban adult learners can be found, as its setting. The study covers Abuja Municipal Area Council and Bwari Area Council.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

NMEC vocational education programmes are intended to make adults employable and self-reliant. Considerable public and partner resources are put into equipment, instructors and training. It is generally assumed that graduates will find work or start businesses and become less dependent on others.

However, there is little systematic evidence on whether this happens. Evidence from Nigeria points to programme weaknesses, including inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, lack of qualified teachers and materials, and, in some places, a lack of vocational skills provision (Awoniyi & Aromolaran, 2025; Ekpo et al., 2024; Nwodo et al., 2026). Graduates may lack start-up capital, tools, market access or business knowledge, and training may not match labour-market demand. Records of what graduates do after training are seldom kept.

Without empirical evidence on employability and self-reliance outcomes, NMEC, the FCT authorities and partners cannot judge which trades and support arrangements work, or how to link training to jobs, credit and markets. The problem of this study is therefore the lack of empirical evidence on the effect of NMEC vocational education programmes on employability and self-reliance among adult learners in Abuja Municipal and Bwari Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of the study is to determine the effect of vocational education on employability and self-reliance among adult learners in NMEC vocational education programmes in the FCT. The specific objectives are to:

1. determine the extent to which the programmes have equipped adult learners with marketable technical and entrepreneurial skills;

2. assess the effect of the programmes on learners’ employability (obtaining paid work, apprenticeship or self-employment);

3. determine the effect of the programmes on learners’ self-reliance (income, business ownership and independence from financial support);

4. examine the adequacy of training facilities, instructors, equipment and post-training support; and

5. identify the challenges that limit the programmes’ effect on employability and self-reliance.

1.4 Research Questions

1. To what extent have the programmes equipped adult learners with marketable technical and entrepreneurial skills?

2. What is the effect of the programmes on learners’ employability?

3. What is the effect of the programmes on learners’ self-reliance?

4. How adequate are training facilities, instructors, equipment and post-training support?

5. What challenges limit the effect of the programmes?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance:

H₀₁: NMEC vocational education programmes have no significant effect on the marketable skills of adult learners in the study area.

H₀₂: The programmes have no significant effect on learners’ employability.

H₀₃: The programmes have no significant effect on learners’ self-reliance.

H₀₄: There is no significant relationship between the adequacy of training facilities and post-training support and learners’ self-reliance.

H₀₅: There is no significant difference in the employability of male and female learners who completed the programmes.

1.6 Significance of the Study

Adult learners. The study will show which trades and forms of support best lead to jobs and self-reliance, helping them choose training.

NMEC and the FCT Universal Basic Education and adult education authorities. The findings will inform decisions on trades, equipment, curriculum and post-training support.

Instructors and centre managers. They will obtain evidence to improve training and add entrepreneurship and business content.

Employers, financial institutions and development partners. They can align apprenticeship, credit and market-linkage support with what graduates need.

Policymakers. The study provides national-level evidence that complements state-level studies (Ekpo et al., 2024; Nwodo et al., 2026).

Researchers. It adds evidence on adults’ employability and self-reliance in an area, the FCT, that has received less attention.

1.7 Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study is limited to NMEC vocational education programmes in Abuja Municipal Area Council and Bwari Area Council of the FCT. It covers adult learners aged 18 years and above who are currently enrolled in, or who have completed within the last three years, vocational programmes, together with instructors and programme coordinators. The content focus is employability and self-reliance. The study does not cover formal technical and vocational education in secondary schools, polytechnics or technical colleges.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

The study covers two area councils in the FCT and its findings should not be generalised to all NMEC programmes across the country. Graduates may be hard to trace because they move or change occupation, and respondents may be unwilling to state incomes; centre records, phone contact and confidentiality assurances will be used. Employability and self-reliance are influenced by the wider economy and personal circumstances, so the study can establish association and perceived effect more confidently than strict causation.

1.9 Operational Definition of Terms

Vocational education: organised training in practical skills for a specific trade or occupation.

NMEC vocational education programmes: skills-training programmes coordinated by the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education.

Employability: the ability of a person to obtain and keep paid work, apprenticeship or self-employment.

Self-reliance: the ability to earn a sustainable living and meet basic needs without continued dependence on others.

Adult learner: a person aged 18 years or above enrolled in, or who has completed, an NMEC vocational programme.

Post-training support: assistance after training, such as start-up tools, credit, mentoring and market linkage.

Entrepreneurial skills: skills needed to start and run a small business, such as costing, record-keeping and marketing.

References

Ali, M. A. (2024). Adult education as an alternative option for accelerated socio-economic development of Nigeria. Journal of Continuing and Development Education, 4(1), 183–197. https://journalcde.com/index.php/jcde/article/view/123

Awoniyi, B. K., & Aromolaran, O. F. (2025). Vocational education: Key to provision of specialised occupation for self-reliance in Nigeria. Euro Global Contemporary Studies Journal, 5(3), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15667534

Babajide, A., Osabuohien, E., Tunji-Olayeni, P., Falola, H., Amodu, L., Olokoyo, F., & Ehikioya, B. (2023). Financial literacy, financial capabilities, and sustainable business model practice among small business owners in Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 13(4), 1670–1692.

Barasa, A. H., Mekuria, Y. S., Golga, D. N., et al. (2026). Adult education skills acquisition and the economic empowerment of rural women in Southern Ethiopia. Discover Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-026-01948-2

Belete, S., Duke, C., Hinzen, H., et al. (2022). Community learning centres (CLCs) for adult learning and education (ALE): Development in and by communities. International Review of Education, 68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-022-09954-w

Ekpo, M. E., Umoh, U. E., & Udoaka, S. P. (2024). Adult education and entrepreneurial sustainable development in Nigeria: A study of Akwa Ibom State Agency for Adult and Non-Formal Education (2007–2023). Covenant Journal of Entrepreneurship, 8(1), 44–54. https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cjoe/article/view/4183

Kolawole, O. D., & Pusoetsile, T. (2022). What difference does literacy make among adult learners? Impact of adult basic education programme in a rural community in Botswana. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 28(1), 227–251. https://doi.org/10.1177/14779714211007495

Nwodo, C. E., Akpa, G. O., & Gyang, T. S. (2026). Management of adult literacy programmes and achievement of mass literacy goals in Plateau State, Nigeria. Greener Journal of Education and Training Studies, 9(1), 27–34. https://doi.org/10.15580/gjets.2026.1.051126063

Oroka, O. V., Bessong, C. D., Bessong, N. O., Ewuru, A. A., & Olori, G. I. (2024). Effect of media literacy on entrepreneurial development of learners in adult and vocational education. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 16(2), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2024-16-2-5

UNESCO. (2022). Marrakech Framework for Action: Harnessing the transformational power of adult learning and education (Seventh International Conference on Adult Education). UNESCO.

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. (2022). 5th global report on adult learning and education: Citizenship education – Empowering adults for change. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.