The founder of Umu-boyii fellowship in Nnewi, Rev. Canon Prince Chukwuma has raised alarm over the dwindling Igbo apprenticeship system, noting that the apprenticeship system is what has distinguished the Igbo tribe from other tribes in Nigeria.
Speaking to Anaedoonline.ng, the Christian Cleric said that he started Umu-boyii fellowship for business apprentices in Nkwo Nnewi Market to help reduce the dismissal of Umu-boyii by their bosses (Oga’s), especially in Nkwo Nnewi Market.
“When I was a priest in one of the Anglican Churches in Nnewichi, I was pastoring most Nkwo Nnewi businessmen, I found out that the rate in which they use to dismiss their apprentices almost on daily basis was on the high side, this is largely on the basis of the behavioural disposition of most umu-boyii”
“I also discovered that most of these umu-boyii who were being dismissed were actually the hope of their families, who most times are living in penury, because they believe that their sons after serving their oga’s will be settled, and he will come back to salvage the family from poverty”
“Most of these boys join umu-boyii cult, some of them engage in womanizing, fighting their oga’s wife, stealing their oga’s money, and other abnormalities, I decided to start speaking to Umu-boyii, when I discovered that I cannot reach many of them individually, I decided to start a fellowship for umu-boyii in Nkwo Nnewi and other surrounding markets”
Speaking on how the fellowship have reduced the dismissal of Umu-boyii in Nkwo Nnewi, the Anglican Priest revealed that the fellowship has become a bridging gap between Umu-boyii and their Oga’s.
“We have a population between 80-100 of umu-boyii in our fellowship, we have umu-boyii and associates, the associates are those that have been settled”
“Since we started the fellowship, we have transformed the lives of many umu-boyii in Nnewi, we have mediated in a lot of conflict between umu-boyii and oga’s”
“We had a case where a boy who has been stealing and saving his master money, came to me after our fellowship, he told me that he wanted to return his master’s money back to him, the amount was around N3.7M, this is a boy that has only stayed, a year and seven months, that means he must have spent about N2M on frivolities, I took him to his oga and he accepted him, and even made him the head, because the boy really repented”
“We have recorded a lot of testimonies, some of these boys have returned millions of Naira, a lot of lives have been transformed, most of them are born-again, we have negotiated reasonable settlement package for some of these umu-boyii, we have done a lot”
The cleric however raised alarmed over the
dwindling Igbo apprenticeship system, saying that most traders prefer to have sells girls and cashier instead of umu-boyii.
He noted that if the current trend continues, the Igbo entrepreneurship dominance will decline.
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