ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE SKILL NEEDS OF TECHNICAL COLLEGE GRADUATES FOR JOB CREATION AND SELFRELIANCE IN ENUGU STATE

Abstract

The acquisition of skills especially in electrical installation and maintenance trades will undoubtably lead to job creation and self-reliance as lack of employment is an evidence of unsaleable skills possessed by technical college graduates. This study was conducted to determine the electrical installation and maintenance skill needs of technical college graduates for job creation and self-reliance in Enugu State. The population for the study
comprised of 33 graduates in rural and 64 graduates in urban cities of Enugu state. Due to manageable size of the population, there was no sampling. Two research questions were raised and answered using mean and standard deviation while hypotheses formulated were
tested using t-test at .05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive (survey) research design while data was collected using a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher. The instrument was validated by three experts; the reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha which gave a high co-efficient result of 0.78. Some of the findings include: electrical installation and maintenance work skills like Planing the layout and installation of wiring, Testing of electrical work for safety, Competence with tools, effectives use of materials, inspection of electrical installation, interpretation of
wiring drawing and the likes are highly needed for job creation. It was therefore
recommended amongst others that all the identified skills should be integrated into the curriculum of technical colleges for training of students; Government should endeavour to finance and equip technical college workshops as to encourage more training and equipment of students with necessary skills for job creation and self reliance upon graduation in Enugu State.