An assessment of multi-skilling in addressing skills shortage in Nigerian construction firms

The construction industry in Nigeria is largely driven by activities of skilledlabour or craftsmen as most of the construction activities are carried outmanually. However, the Nigerian building construction firms are challengedby shortage of skilled manpower. This study assessed multi-skilling practicein building construction with a view to bridge skills shortage in the buildingconstruction firms. This study identified specific skills shortage andresponsible factors, assessed the practice of multi-skilling, identified theimpact of multi-skilling, identified impediments and ways of enhancing multiskilling in the building construction firms. The study utilized a population of170 building construction firms registered in Abuja with updated remittanceto the Industrial Training Fund (ITF). Simple random sampling was used inselecting 140 sampled firms. Two sets of questionnaires were administered tothe most senior professional and craftsman in each of the 140 firms sampled.Data obtained was analysed with statistical tools: Means, Percentages, andstandard deviation and results were presented in charts and tables. Themajor findings in this study revealed that respondents (professionals andcraftsmen) admitted shortage of Masonry, Plumbing, and Painting skills.“Poor Apprenticeship Schemes” was unanimously agreed by respondents to bethe most important factor responsible for skills shortage with mean of 3.94and 3.74 as ranked by professionals and craftsmen respectively. The studyalso revealed that multi-skilling is only slightly (48%) practiced amongprofessionals while some of the craftsmen possess and practice skills otherthan their traditional area of competence. The study showed thatprofessionals and craftsmen admitted that “Work Force Saving” (Mean = 3.83and Mean = 4.13 respectively) is the most important impact of multi-skilling.Findings on impediments to multi-skilling revealed that “high cost oftraining” (Mean = 3.78) and “complexity of management” (Mean = 3.51) arethe major impediments. “Training and Retraining of workers” (Mean = 4.14)and management's decision to multi-skill” (Mean = 3.90) were ranked highestas ways of enhancing the practice of multi-skilling. The research thereforeconcludes that “Workforce Saving” attribute of the concept of multi-skilling isan antidote to skills shortage in the building construction industry in Nigeria.Therefore, study recommends that construction firms should adopt multiskilling with sustainable implementation strategies in order to bridge skillsshortage.