The Relevance of Informal Formation to Employment for the Vocational Education and Training in Nigeria—Some Conceptual Inspirations from a Sideline-Research

The study gives some deeper understanding of vocational education and training in Nigeria and the relevance of qualification outside the formal sector. It grounds in a sideline-research as part of a commissioning consultancy of how to improve the formal public colleges’ practical training in the construction sector. This study gives the team the possibilities to go to the ground and to dive deep in the existing practice of qualification for employment in the country. Based on the qualitative research design we were able to develop a model to distinct different marks on a continuum of informal formation to employment. We offer a deeper understanding of apprenticeship as it exists in Nigeria, but we suppose that is more general. And we enlighten the very important role of social relation in apprenticeship and highlight the importance of the builder category as professional and also as main driver of the social relation.