Emerging issues in the sustainability of the Igbo apprenticeship system in south east Nigeria

Igbo Apprenticeship System (IAS) evolved out of the "Igba-Odibo" tradition, is globally acclaimed to be a better traditional system of entrepreneurship, redistributive wealth mechanism, process of empowerment, and process of social integration. It has, in the past, provided economic empowerment, transfer of skills, and coping capacity at the community level. Its sustainability is threatened by globalization, digital revolution, cultural change, and institutional weakness. The research evaluated the extent of human capital development in Abia, Anambra, and Enugu States on the basis of the discovery of 360 parents, masters, and apprentices on globalization and institutional uncertainty. Binomial tests of proportion through Z-approximation showed that IAS had a significant role in entrepreneurship at 82% agreement (Z = 15.27, p=0.82, p < .01); business prosperity was linked to IAS at 68% agreement (Z = 10.54, p=0.68, p < .01); 76% agreed about the application of IAS in keeping companies in business (Z = 12.83, p=0.76, p < .01); 80% testified to its enforcement of self-sufficiency (Z = 14.96, p=0.80, p < .01); and 75% testified that IAS enabled control over joblessness (Z = 13.42, p=0.75, p < .01). Collectively, they validate IAS as a viable local labor and entrepreneurial model, placed in human capital theory and literature but also corroborating shortages of modernization, youth involvement, and policy acknowledgment. In conclusion, IAS is still at the heart of Nigeria's development, but in need of hybrid-reforming, handicapped by the age of the digital era, and institutionalized with upkeep to remain sustainable in globalization.