Ochendo: An African Journal of Innovative Studies

Lately, especially in the build up to the 2023 general elections in Lagos state- the commercial nerve center of Nigeria where their shops, markets and properties largely belonging to ndi Igbo were targeted for mob attacks and arsons, virtually everything about Igbo as a race and one of the major ethnic groups in the heterogeneous Nigerian setting began to attract renewed attentions and discourse. From the foregoing, the entrepreneurial performance of the Igbo people both in Nigeria and beyond featured prominently in the discourses and analyses. This is encapsulated in the most held belief that the majority of the increasing numbers of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and large business enterprises (LBEs) that underscore the growth of Nigerian economy are championed and managed by Igbo people. Meanwhile, these adept and gross commercial performances even in the face of daunting challenges and harsh circumstances that prevail against the people remain topical among many objective analysts and researchers. Unarguably, Igbo people cannot be successful entrepreneurs without some variable factors like “igba boyi” (apprenticeship system) among them. Hence, this scheme and others could be some bases for their socio-economic performances. Thus, this work seeks to analytically investigate peculiar sources, circumstances and skills of “igba boyi” (apprenticeship system) that form the fulcrum of the evolution of the socio-economic performances of the Igbo people both in Nigeria and across the globe.

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