Innovation Generation in the Furniture Industry in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examines the innovations carried out in the furniture making industry in Southwestern Nigeria. This was with a view to recommending policy measures to enhance the innovative performance of the furniture makers. The research covered Lagos, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti States, because a large numbers of the industry are located in the states. The sample population consisted of 319 furniture makers. The research instruments used were questionnaire, personal observation and focus group discussion approaches. The questionnaire was administered to furniture makers to elicit information on the nature and extent of the innovations generated by the furniture makers. Both descriptive and inferential statistics techniques were employed for data analysis. The result shows that many innovations were carried out by the furniture makers among which are Bunk beds for students with stair case, up board and down board of beds are carved, new office table with plywood without using nails, designing of new styles of doors having more panels than before.