Skills gap assessment to enhance the delivery of technical and vocational education: A case study of electrical installation graduates in Ogun and Kaduna states of Nigeria

Nigeria requires an efficient and a capable skilled workforce to manage the construction industry. The workforce comprises the engineers, technicians and the craftsmen from Nigerian universities, polytechnics and technical colleges. The importance of the skilled workforce cannot be overemphasized as it contributes immensely to the social and economic development of the country. The continuous growth in and expansion of this industry in Nigeria have led to exponential growth in positions that require certain technical skills. However, finding workers with the requisite skills remains a major challenge for employers in Nigeria. Employers have expressed concerns about the lack of adequately trained technical college graduates and feel that educational institutions under Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) are not producing graduates with skills that match the needs of industry. The aim of this research is to create a measuring and mapping framework to address the construction skills gap through improved technical and vocational education with reference to the challenges inherent in the Nigerian electrical installation education programme.The pragmatist philosophy and sequential exploratory mixed method were adopted in order to fulfil the research aim and objectives. During the early stages of the study, data were collected through focus group discussion with the electrical zonal education officers, electrical installation instructors and electrical installation heads of departments of technical colleges both in Kaduna state in Northern Nigeria and Ogun State in Southern Nigeria. Locales in northern and southern Nigeria were considered, due to previously reported educational disparity between the northern and southern parts of Nigeria in the extant literature.Their views were sought through six focus group discussions for the qualitative phase of the study. For the quantitative phase, a questionnaire survey was administered to electrical installation contractors.The key findings from the study indicated that the technical college institutions in Ogun and Kaduna states in Nigeria, faced problems with regards to their role in the provision of knowledge and skills. The study identified that skills gap exists among the skilled workforce in soft skills which comprises of thinking ability, reading skills, written communication skills, leadership skills, negotiation skills, time management skills and core skills for learning. Gaps were found in curriculum as it was out of date. Additionally, there is a lack of facilities and equipment needed for teaching and learning. The gap that exists could be addressed and improved by training and retraining the skilled workforce, introducing apprenticeship training and to make sure that the electrical installation programme curriculum is reviewed, with a view to make training more relevant to the needs of the construction industry.The findings of the study were used to develop a framework which was validated via a survey which indicated that the framework is valuable and suitable for use in practice since the research shows that most of the respondents accepted the research findings and recommendations for success.This research offers recommendations that will assist the industry, schools and public at large in resolving issues on skills gap assessment in Nigeria