Vocational Adult Education and Self-Employment Among Artisans in Ogun State

This study examines the relationship between vocational adult education programme participation and self-employment outcomes among artisans in Ogun State, South West Nigeria. Artisans in the informal economy, including carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and fashion designers, often acquire skills through traditional apprenticeship but lack the entrepreneurial and business management knowledge needed to grow and formalise their enterprises. Vocational adult education programmes offer a structured pathway for bridging this knowledge gap. This study uses a survey design, collecting data from 190 artisans in Abeokuta, Sagamu, and Ijebu-Ode who participated in vocational adult education programmes within the past three years. Self-employment outcomes measured include business registration rates, enterprise revenue growth, employment of apprentices, and business record-keeping practices. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis are applied. Findings show that programme participants demonstrate significantly higher rates of business formalisation, record-keeping adoption, and apprentice employment compared to artisans without programme exposure. Revenue growth was positively and significantly correlated with programme completion and duration. Access to credit remains the most cited constraint to translating learning into business growth. The study concludes that vocational adult education meaningfully improves self-employment quality and business development among Ogun State artisans. It recommends that state technical and vocational education authorities formalise apprenticeship-linked adult education pathways and partner with microfinance institutions to provide post-training credit access.

Keywords: vocational adult education, self-employment, artisans, Ogun State, informal economy.