Assessment of resources for International Institute of Welding (IIW) curriculum Implementation in Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC’s) Skills Acquisition Programme

Abstract

The study examined the implementation of International Institute of Welding (IIW) curriculum in 
Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC’s) Skills Acquisition Programme in Niger Delta 
region. The objectives of the study was to determine the extent to which Welding Teaching 
Personnel at the training centres meet IIW requirements and the extent funding for the programme 
covers its areas of expenditure in Niger Delta region. The study adopted a descriptive survey 
research design. The population of the study was 759 respondents comprising 700 Trainees, 37 
Welding Teaching Personnel, 11 Heads of Training Centres/Coordinators and 11 Commercial and 
Industrial Development Directorate (CIDD) staff of NDDC. The sample size for the study was 
314. It comprised 255 Trainees, 37 Welding Teaching Personnel (WTP), 11 Heads of Training 
Centres/Coordinators, 11 Commercial and Industrial Development Directorate staff of NDDC. 
The instruments that were used for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire designed in 
four point rating scale. The instrument was face and content validated and tested for reliability 
using Cronbach Alpha, which yielded 0.82 and 0.89 reliability index. Mean and standard deviation 
was used to analyze the research questions whereas analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test were 
employed to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Findings showed that the 
welding teaching personnel meets IIW requirements to a low extent, whereas welding teaching 
personnel that meets IIW requirements to a very high extent could help trainees acquire 
fundamental learning even with poor curriculum and limited teaching materials. Also, funding for 
the programme has covered its areas of expenditure to a low extent, whereas funding for areas of 
expenditure need to be of high extent for there not to be set back in any area. The study 
recommended among others that the use of unqualified welding teaching personnel should be 
checked by NDDC using the IIW requirements as yardstick to engaging and retaining them.