The need for youth empowerment for productive engagement remains a central point in achieving
socio-economic development of developing nations. This study examined the differences in vocational skill
acquisition and utilization of male and female youths in the informal TVET sector. The study took a survey of
vocational practitioners and experts in the informal TVET sector of Yewa South Local government of Ogun
State. Multi-stage sampling was used to select 160 vocational practitioners and experts across different
vocations from the two geo-political divisions of Yewa South Local Government. Data were collected with a
questionnaire tagged “Vocational Skill Acquisition and Utilisation Questionnaire (V-SAUQ)”. Data obtained
were analysed with frequency count and mean. The results indicate considerable skill acquisition and
utilization of the youths in the study area with the female gender portrayed as having moderately higher
vocational skill acquisition level and noticeable high difference in vocational skill utilization than the male
gender. It was concluded that the tendency to acquire and utilize vocational skills in the informal TVET sector
may be related to the peculiarity of such vocations to each gender and the gender-dominance of the vocation. It
was recommended, among others, that government and all stakeholders in TVET should gear more efforts
towards skill acquisition and utilization by the youths and the peculiarity of each gender should be factored into
policy formulation and implementation of youth empowerment in technical and vocational engagements.