CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Contemporary thoughts on national development and growth emphasizes the need for the training and retaining of the human resources and economic independence of the nations.  The objectivity of this assertion becomes apparent when viewed against the background of the study.  Damages wrecked on the socio-political and economic structure and integrity of most independent developing nations by foreign interest acting under pretension of assisting them in their development efforts. The realization of complete independence is therefore a function of an effective development strategies and efficient utilization of a country’s potentials studies shows that most countries are blessed with abundant natural resources.  They lock the basic technology for transforming and maximizing the benefits of these natural endowment resulting from the under development of the human portentous.

Since Nigeria gained her independence in 1960, we have been faced with the challenge of providing adequate and effective manpower need for the management of our economic resources. Our inability to provide for the necessary manpower need results in the inefficient and under utilization of the abundant economic resources.  Most organization in Nigeria is so much concerned with the profits maximization, they ignore the need for training their workers, and instead, they consider the money they will spend on their training programme as waste rather than as an investment.  The fail to foresee the desirability of continuous retaining and development of their workers in order to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of their organisation. Consequently instead of growing, the business rather fails and much capital wasted.

Commenting on the general poor development of the Nigerian workers, W.R. Haires observed that the Nigerian workers are under used, under employed, frustrated and preventive from bringing their talents to bear on the well-being of their employers, organisation and the nation at large. Manpower development is a dynamic process, in other words, it is a response to change in the beliefs, attitudes and behaviour of individuals so that they can better adopt new techniques and challenges. In recognition of the need for the training and development of the human potentials and resources of employees as a means of achieving organizational objectives and goal with efficiency and effectiveness, the National Electric Power Authority established a training policy for her employee.  In pursuance of this noble objective of manpower development and training by the organization, a lot of difficulties arises which affected the success of the programme.  This research work is therefore directed towards an evaluation of the manpower development and training programme of the corporation with a view to identifying problem areas (where any) and making suggestions on ways of achieving greater successes in their manpower development efforts.

1.2    STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

After an employee has been recruited and inducted, his skills must be updated and developed to better fit into the job and the organisation.  The need for training and developing the employee not only arises from the fact that he might not fit in the job posses the necessary skill needed in the job but have the effect of the dynamic nature of the society influenced by changes in the field of science and technology necessitated the continuous improvement of worker’s skill and the sill he expected to have in order better fit into the new job demands is bridged by manpower training. Many organizations have over the years established good manpower training and development programmes in order incite better employee performance at work and increased productivity.  Good development programmes have not always been easy to attain in organization because of the forces that impede against the achievement of their objectives.  Some of the impeding forces include selections or recruitment problems, training procedure and inadequate facilities, government policy, the economy and labour legislation.

The crucial problems this research will address includes:

1. The problem of inadequate manpower resources in the National Electric Power Authority.

2. The lack of functional manpower development programmes.

3. The under utilization of available manpower resources.

A critical analysis of these problems will be done with a view to determining their causes and consequences on the corporation.  The researcher will also make contribution on ways of redressing the problems.

1.3    OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The decision to research on this field of human development results from my interest in the areas of manpower planning and development as it occupies a strategic position in the effective and efficient realization of organization’s goal. Apart from giving the reader a general idea of what manpower training and development entails, this study is designed to examine and clarify the following issues:-

1) To identify the manpower training and development programme of the National Electric Power Authority.

2)  To determine the impact of this programme on workers performance.

3) To identify the problem which negatively affect the successful implementation of the programme and achievement of the desires result.

4)  Make recommendation on ways of ensuring greater successes in future.

1.4    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

We have noted earlier in this research the important role of manpower training and development in achieving organizational goal.  We also noted the problem of lack of well-developed, specialized and dynamic management that will be capable of harnessing the development.The significance of the study therefore in it’s potentiality in serving as a reference took for both individual organization and government policy makers who desire to eliminate all and avert obstacles associated with manpower planning. It will also be of immense benefit particularly in the organizers and executors of manpower development and training programmes in National Electric Power Authority.  This is because the clearly identified problem areas in the design and implementation of manpower development programmes.  This research will also discuss various manpower development and training related issues and suggests ways that can be adopted to solve manpower training and development problems.

1.5    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research is concerned with the impact of the manpower development programme of the National Electric Power Authority, Enugu state.The NEPA. as we know is federal parastatals, it has three divisions viz, the eastern, northern and southern division with headquarter at Lagos.The focus in the eastern division of the corporation is not suggestive of a ….. policy in the management policy of the organisaiton rather it is supposed to provide a guide to the understanding of the entire organisation division given the persuading circumstances.Equally it is believed and hoped that much is not lost by limiting the study to the eastern division because given the centralization policy of the organisation, every part is supposed to bear the same major characteristics element with the rest of the other divisions.

1.6    LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In carrying out this research, some basic problems were encountered which to an extent influenced the debtnesses of the research primary among this problems include:-Lack of statistical data, contain information sought for are either totally unavailable or cannot be released to the pubic, despite all these short comings, much effort was indeed made to ensure that these problems does not outweigh the desire ability or need to carryout a sound research.

1.7    RESEARCH QUESTION

The following research questions would be necessary to make this research a success.

1. Is there any programme of manpower training and development in National Electric Power Authority, Enugu?

2. Do National Electric Power Authority Enugu attach importance to manpower development and training?

3. Has manpower development and training helped National Electric Power Authority in meeting the problems or challenges of the complex nature of modern business activities or get equipped to handle the increasing complexity in their managerial activities?

4. Is there any significant impact of manpower development and training in efficient management of National Electric Power Authority, Enugu?
 
1.8    RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The following research hypothesis are used for this study.

Where H0:  Stands for null hypothesis

    Hi: Stands for alternative hypothesis

1. H0: There is no significant impact of manpower development in efficient management of parastatals.

2. H0: There is a significant impact of manpower development in efficient management of parastatals.

3. H0: There is no improvement of manpower development in efficient management of parastatals.

4. Hi: There is an improvement of manpower development in efficient management of parastatals.

1.9    DEFINITION OF TERMS

To allow for better understanding of this research, it is considered necessary that some of the key terms used be defined or described.

1. Manpower: Manpower, which is developed through human capital formation, means much more than population or labour force.  Manpower in the economic sense is the managerial, scientific engineering technical, craftsman and other skills which are employed on creating, designing, developing, organizational managing and operating productivity services enterprises and economic institutions.

2. Development: After the employee has recruited selected and inducted, he or she must be developed to better fit into the job and the organization.
Again, that development would include both training to increase skill in performing a specific job and education to increase general knowledge and understanding of our total work environment.