Survey reveals why Nigeria’s Igbo apprenticeship scheme is fading

One of West Africa’s most celebrated indigenous business incubators is losing ground, and researchers now have numbers to show it. A mixed-methods study of the Igbo apprenticeship scheme, known locally as Igba boyi, found that 77 percent of masters and 68.7 percent of apprentices surveyed perceive the institution as declining. The research, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, draws on survey responses from 2,401 people — 1,201 masters and 1,200 apprentices — alongside in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions conducted in the markets of Onitsha, Southeastern Nigeria.

The scheme has long been regarded as a transformative entrepreneurial incubator, in which young apprentices learn a trade under a master. Yet the study identifies a cluster of socioeconomic forces eroding that model. Educated youths increasingly view apprenticeship as servitude rather than skill acquisition, and a strong preference for formal education pulls young people away from the market-based training system. The researchers also point to a get-rich-quick mentality among younger generations and systemic failures embedded in the scheme’s reliance on oral agreements and informal settlement practices.

To analyze the decline, the team framed their study around the triple helix model, which examines the interplay of industry, government and academia. The authors propose reconceptualizing Igba boyi as what they term apprenticeprenureship, or nkwado-ogranya — preparation for wealth creation — a reframing intended to restore the scheme’s appeal to younger generations by aligning it with modern entrepreneurship rather than informal servitude.

That reframing is operationalized through the triple helix framework, with distinct roles assigned to each sector. Government would provide legal backing and formal certifications, giving apprenticeship outcomes recognized credentials. Academia would deliver tailored business curricula and digital skills training, equipping apprentices for contemporary markets. Industry, meanwhile, would adopt standardized codes of conduct to professionalize the master-apprentice relationship and address the settlement failures that currently undermine confidence in the system.

The study’s authors describe this integrated model as a sustainable pathway for preserving a vital indigenous economic institution. Because the work is framed through a sustainability lens, its contribution lies less in documenting nostalgia for a fading tradition and more in specifying which institutional reforms — legal, educational and commercial — could reposition the scheme as a competitive route to enterprise in modern Nigeria. The perception data, gathered from both sides of the apprenticeship relationship in Onitsha’s markets, offers a measured picture of how indigenous business incubators are faring under the pressures of formal education economies and changing youth aspirations.

Subject of Research: Socioeconomic drivers of the decline of the Igbo apprenticeship scheme in Southeastern Nigeria and pathways for its reinvigoration

Article Title: Socioeconomic drivers of the declining Igbo apprenticeship scheme (Igba Boyi) and sustainable pathways of its reinvigoration

Article References: Onyima, B. N., Nnonyelu, N. A., Nnabuife, E. K., Onyeizugbe, C., & Anazodo, R. (2026). Socioeconomic drivers of the declining Igbo apprenticeship scheme (Igba Boyi) and sustainable pathways of its reinvigoration. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-09490-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-09490-0

Keywords: Igba boyi, Igbo apprenticeship, Nigeria, entrepreneurship, triple helix model, informal economy, Onitsha, mixed-methods survey, indigenous institutions, youth employment, socioeconomic drivers, Socioeconomic