How Igbo Apprenticeship System Can Unlock Nigeria’s Economic Empowerment 

 David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka and Gideon Arinze in Enugu

As Nigeria grapples with soaring unemployment, rising poverty levels, and a widening wealth gap, economic experts and cultural historians are turning their attention to a time-tested indigenous model with transformative potential — the Igbo Apprenticeship System. 

Rooted in centuries-old traditions of mentorship, trade, and communal upliftment, the system has produced some of Nigeria’s most successful entrepreneurs and self-made business leaders. 

Now, amid calls for inclusive growth and youth empowerment, there is growing recognition that this grassroots model could serve as a blueprint for scalable, sustainable economic development across the country.

Cosmas Maduka, the founder of the Coscharis Group; Cletus Ibeto, Chairman of the Ibeto Group; Alexander Chika Okafor, founder and Chairman, Chikason Group; Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of Innoson Motors, are a few of the billionaires from the south-east that went through the apprenticeship system. 

The Igbo apprenticeship system, which is also known as Igba Boi, is a system adopted by people from the South-east in setting up mostly the male child in the early days. 

It involves mainly mentorship and empowerment. It is a system where a young native and untrained boy joins an established businessman, mainly to learn trade, after which they help their masters gather wealth with the experience garnered, and then they are set up for their own business. 

All these happen after a defined period, which includes training, helping the master, and getting empowered.

The system has been known to be very effective, and some people have said that more than half of the successful businessmen in the region went through the system. 

The programme most times spans over five years and even stretches to 10 years in most cases or even above, depending on the agreement. 

This also determines the enormity of the resources that will be deployed in setting up the apprentice.

At various times, many individuals have acknowledged the role of the system in creating wealth in Igboland, and have also decried the lackluster attitude of youths in embracing the system.

Despite the success of the system in creating wealth, it later became even despised, with those sent into the system being looked upon as the very dregs of their families. 

For example, many saw the idea of sending one’s children for Igba Boi instead of being sent to school as a sign of poverty. The boys being sent too were seen as people who were less loved, as the cherished ones were sent to school to get education.

 There has been a general consensus that the system was largely responsible for the creation of wealth among the people of the Southeast. But the craving for Western education has also badly eroded the belief in the system. This has led to the attempt to integrate the system into formal education.

While the founder of United Nigeria Airline (UNA), Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, recently endowed a chair in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and also commissioned a research work on the efficacy of the project in wealth creation, the Heroes Foundation, a non-governmental organisation under the Interfact Beverages, makers of Hero brand of beer have also launched a programme that integrated the Igba Boi system into universities across the country, targeting firstly, the formalisation of the skills learnt by the apprentice with certificates and also balancing the need for formal education and apprenticeship by luring others into it.

Speaking with THISDAY, a trader and one of the leaders at Relief Market, Ogbaru, one of the many prominent markets in Onitsha, Chief Azuka Udombua said: “This is the scheme that people like me used to become who I am today. It is true that in those days, those of us who went for Igba Boi used to be seen as outcasts, or those not loved by their families, but it is the same scheme that helped us.

“It was difficult because your boss saw you as someone sold to him, and they could use you for anything. For example, those days, we did not only serve our Oga in his shop, looking for customers and helping to build the business, but you have to wash clothes for the family, fetch water, go for school run, and even help his wife with cooking or any other things she wants you to do. 

“This scheme was built for us in the late 90s, it is unfortunate that many people today are not going for Igba Boi, but I cannot blame them. There was a kind of stigma that became associated with it when Western education became the newfound love. Some of us who missed formal education have still used this old age to get degrees.”

Another trader, Mr. Ikechukwu Nwabia said: “I agree that it is a means of creating wealth, especially for families that are not financially stable, but the truth is that it is also dehumanising. When I did Igba Boi, I watched my oga’s children who were almost my age enjoying themselves, going to school, engaging in other extracurricular activities, but mine was to remain at home and serve people who were my mate, after serving them, you serve their mother in the kitchen and still go to the shop to serve their father.

“It may have been the things that made us tough, but as children, it broke our ego and made us feel like we were inferior. You know how children feel. But the truth is that the scheme is good, but didn’t work for everyone. Like myself, it didn’t work for me, that was why I couldn’t make it, so I quit and went to school when l felt I could, and today I’m who I am.”

For him, upon graduation from Secondary School in 2007, Ifeanyi Shedrach informed his parents that he wanted to enrol in the Igbo Apprenticeship System, to learn how to sell men’s clothing. 

“I have always wanted to learn how to deal in clothing,” he said, “And so, when the opportunity arose, I grabbed it.”

 Shedrach spent 10 years learning the ropes of the business. He was not just taught business skills but also social values such as discipline, hard work, and loyalty. He recalled that the training was practical and immersive, providing him with hands-on experience in sales, negotiation, customer relations, inventory management, and market dynamics. 

At the end of the agreed apprenticeship period, Shedrach’s master provided him with what is known as a settlement, which came in the form of money to start his own business. He said that although the money wasn’t enough, this phase was a reward for loyalty and labour and an investment in his economic independence.

“He gave me N600,000 upon expiration of the 10 years, he recalled. “I was angry, but I took it in good faith and knew it was in the right direction and only needed to be patient.”

With the money, Shedrach got a shop inside the same market in 2017, fixed the shop, and bought some goods from Onitsha. Today, he is a major dealer in men’s clothes in the market. He stressed that he wouldn’t have succeeded if he hadn’t been patient from the beginning 

No doubt, the Igbo Apprenticeship System has played a crucial role in fostering entrepreneurship and reducing poverty within Igbo communities. It has created a network of self-made businesspeople and contributed significantly to the region’s economic resilience. Despite facing modern challenges such as urban migration, formal education preferences, and the need for legal protections, the system continues to adapt and survive. 

Uzoma Uzodimma is another shining example of a successful business owner who went through the apprenticeship process. 

Although his apprenticeship lasted for only two years, he says it gave him the background and the platform to start and create his own finance. 

Uzodimma’s journey started in 2016, when he graduated from the University. “I have always wanted to learn a business and so, after graduation, I began to learn interior decoration.” 

He says learning the ropes of interior decoration wasn’t easy but it was worth it, adding that personal extended research from mostly online media also helped to enhance what he learned during the trainings. 

Today, Uzodimma is one of the biggest dealers in interior decor in Enugu, with at least three apprentices who are helping to continue the cycle. 

Efforts are being made to modernise the system, ensuring its relevance in the 21st century. These modernisation initiatives aim to preserve the strengths of the system—community-based mentorship, practical training, and business empowerment—while addressing its limitations, such as lack of legal protection, outdated methods, and scalability challenges.

Clearly, the Igbo Apprenticeship System stands as a time-tested model of grassroots economic empowerment, community-driven entrepreneurship, and inclusive wealth distribution. By fostering mentorship, practical skill acquisition, and capital support, it equips individuals, particularly youth, with the tools needed to succeed in business and contribute meaningfully to the economy. In a country like Nigeria, where unemployment and inequality remain pressing challenges, adopting and scaling this indigenous system across other regions can stimulate job creation, reduce poverty, and build resilient local economies. Formal recognition, policy support, and integration into national development plans can transform the Igbo Apprenticeship System from a regional tradition into a national strategy for sustainable economic empowerment.