The traditional Igbo apprenticeship system, widely known as Igba Boi or Imu Ahia, which has helped generations of traders build businesses and achieve financial independence, is facing growing challenges as some businessmen abandon the practice in favour of paid employment, RaveNewsOnline reports.
At Ladipo Market, Lagos, a major hub for automobile spare parts, traders who benefited from the system say changing attitudes among young people, declining trust between masters and apprentices, parental pressure and the growing desire for quick wealth are undermining a business tradition that has sustained many families for decades.
While some traders believe the system can be preserved through renewed parental involvement and commitment from young people, others say changing business realities require a shift towards paid apprenticeship and clearly defined employment arrangements.
Mr Obinna Edeh, a spare-parts dealer at Ladipo Market, said the problem was not necessarily the unwillingness of established businessmen to train apprentices, but the declining patience among young people to undergo the years of service traditionally required before becoming independent.
Edeh, who said he was once an apprentice himself, explained that the system traditionally required young men to serve established traders for five or six years, learn the business and eventually receive financial support to establish their own enterprises.
“The problem we are having now is that our youths, especially Igbo youths, no longer have patience,” he said, adding that many wanted to become wealthy without undergoing the process of learning and serving.
According to him, the traditional arrangement extended beyond the relationship between a master and an apprentice, as other traders in the market often contributed to the apprentice’s development and supported him when he eventually established his business.
He described the system as a continuous cycle in which a settled apprentice would grow into a business owner, train another young person and help sustain the tradition.
Edeh, however, said the increasing preference for quick money had discouraged some businessmen from taking apprentices, forcing them to employ salesgirls and other workers willing to learn and work under different arrangements.
He also blamed some parents for putting pressure on apprentices to demand money from their masters after comparing their progress with that of peers who appeared to be making money quickly.
Such pressure, he said, could lead to disagreements, premature departure from apprenticeship and the loss of opportunities for young people to establish their own businesses.
Another trader, Mr Chidera Nwanyanwu, Chief Executive Officer of Chidera Deco Enterprises, said his experience had reinforced concerns about trust and commitment in the traditional system.
Nwanyanwu, who deals in Suzuki and Husqvarna engines and spare parts, said he spent 12 years serving his elder brother and still maintained a business relationship with him because of the trust established during that period.
He said some contemporary apprentices were unwilling to make similar sacrifices, while experiences involving alleged financial misconduct had discouraged business owners from continuing the practice.
According to him, some traders have resorted to employing secretaries and other workers, although such arrangements are not without risks.
He recounted an experience in which he alleged that a secretary and an apprentice conspired to divert business funds, saying incidents of that nature had weakened confidence in the apprenticeship system.
Nwanyanwu also expressed concern about the possibility of exposing business knowledge to people whose intentions were unknown to the owners, although he acknowledged the importance of identifying and training trustworthy young people.
He attributed some of the challenges to the influence of internet fraud and the desire among young people to acquire wealth quickly, urging parents to revive the values of honesty, patience and diligence.
However, Mr Kanu Michael, Managing Director of Mike Motors Nigeria Ltd., offered a different perspective, arguing that changing business practices and the absence of clearly defined terms between masters and apprentices had contributed to the decline.
Michael said he served his master for nine years before receiving the financial settlement that enabled him to establish his own business. He has since spent about 14 to 15 years in business.
He explained that the traditional arrangement was largely based on an understanding between the master, apprentice and, in many cases, the apprentice’s parents, rather than a clearly structured employment relationship.
According to him, this could create disagreements over the length of service, the expectations of both parties and the financial settlement at the end of the apprenticeship.
Michael said he now preferred paid apprenticeship and employment, under which workers were remunerated for specific services instead of entering into an arrangement that could last five to seven years and eventually lead to disputes.
“I prefer paid apprenticeship or employment. You work, I pay you, and you go,” he said.
He added that the arrangement was more straightforward because both parties understood their responsibilities and what they would receive in return.
On concerns that employing people from outside the Igbo community could expose business secrets, Michael argued that entrepreneurial success depended on hard work, adaptability and the ability to identify opportunities.
He said sharing business knowledge with people from other ethnic groups would not necessarily diminish the capacity of Igbo traders to succeed.
Mr Chukwudi Nwabueze, Managing Director of UNEST Great Mosco Nigeria Ltd., who said he had spent more than 30 years in the spare-parts business, also described the difficulties of finding committed apprentices.
Nwabueze said he had trained fewer than 10 apprentices during his years in business, adding that some young people were unwilling to spend several years learning a trade.
He recalled an incident involving an apprentice whom he alleged had stolen part of a coil from his warehouse after about three months.
The experience, he said, discouraged him from taking another apprentice, prompting him to employ salesgirls whom he paid for their work.
Nwabueze said the traditional system required business owners to share practical knowledge with apprentices to enable them to operate the business effectively, but doing so also raised concerns about the future use of such information.
He warned that the declining interest in apprenticeship could affect the continuity of family businesses if younger generations failed to learn the trade.
The trader also blamed some parents for prioritising overseas education without involving their children in the businesses that had sustained their families.
He cited an experience in the United States where he observed an elderly man still working in a family business, with younger generations expected to continue the enterprise.
Nwabueze said such continuity could help preserve business knowledge and ensure that family enterprises survived beyond their founders.
Edeh similarly argued that apprenticeship should be regarded as a form of education capable of equipping young people with practical skills and helping them become financially independent.
He said parents who could not afford to provide every child with university education and subsequent employment opportunities could consider sending their children to learn a trade under an established businessman.
According to him, practical experience in markets such as Ladipo has enabled people who arrived without substantial capital to become importers and successful business owners.
He urged parents to encourage their children to embrace apprenticeship while ensuring that young people understood the importance of commitment and learning.
For Michael, however, the future may lie in adapting the system to contemporary realities by establishing clearer expectations and more transparent arrangements between business owners and workers.
The different views reflect the challenge confronting the traditional model: while some traders want a return to the patience, trust and mentorship that sustained it, others believe that paid arrangements offer a more practical response to changing economic and social conditions.
Ultimately, the debate is not only about whether young people should serve established traders for several years, but also about how business knowledge can be transferred, how trust can be rebuilt and how the next generation can acquire the skills needed to sustain successful enterprises.
For the traders interviewed at Ladipo Market, preserving the achievements associated with the Igbo apprenticeship system will require effort from both business owners and families, as well as a willingness to reconsider how the tradition can operate in a changing business environment.
