Entrepreneurship Education and Employment Stimulation in Nigeria

Abstract:

Nigeria is a nation of paradox, blessed with enormous wealth, but larger proportion of the citizens live in abject poverty and face worsening unemployment. In a bid to mitigate the scourge of poverty and unemployment, previous regimes initiated diverse poverty reductions polices (PRPs) with the objectives of boasting industrial production and level of employment thereby checkmating joblessness, hopelessness and crime. Despite the various PRPs, the hydra-monster poverty and unemployment have remained endemic judging by official statistics published by reliable bodies. The failures of previous PRPs precipitated the passionate romance with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and compulsory inclusion of entrepreneurship education in the curricula of the three levels of higher education in Nigeria. This paper examines entrepreneurship education and employment stimulation in Nigeria. The authors employed systematic collection of quantitative data and subjected them to econometric analysis on the basis of which informed conclusions were drawn. On the strength of the data sourced, analysed and interpreted, it was discovered that entrepreneurship development could be effective tools for poverty reduction, stimulating employment as well as fast-tracking realisation of universal primary education and promoting gender equality. The paper recommended that institutions must imbibe a creativity training. This creativity can help the individual view problems from different perspectives. Institutions must intensify the integration of entrepreneurship in education systems.