One of the key concerns in Nigeria today is the need to create more jobs because there are many unemployed graduates in order to alleviate mass unemployment, which has reached a critical point that requires immediate intervention. Thus, the approach would only be beneficial if attitudes towards entrepreneurial education changed.The yearly growth in the number of youngsters attending school and those completing tertiary education without a job is concerning; millions of young people face gloomy job prospects. The increase in the number of youths enrolled in secondary and postsecondary education is a positive trend; yet, many countries’ labour markets are now unable to accommodate the rising pool of talented young people.
It is anticipated that 800 million new jobs will be required to accommodate today’s kids. Young people are being forced into the formal sector as a result of job losses and an increase in the number of unemployed. Today’s rising rates of unemployment, poverty, corruption, kidnapping, and a slew of other social ills concern the government and every well-meaning person.
Unemployment exacerbates poverty, which is one of the most serious issues confronting developing countries today, with over 90 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. Entrepreneurship education is concerned with training people to understand and develop key entrepreneurial attributes, skills, and behaviours. Bringing entrepreneurship into the classroom has the potential to reduce unemployment in any country to its lowest level because entrepreneurship education seeks to prepare people, particularly youths, to be responsible, enterprising individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs thinkers and contribute to economic development and sustainable communities.The problem of unemployment is particularly tragic, since the number of people leaving various institutions in search of work grows by the day. This is why entrepreneurship education as a tertiary level course of study is required, and one of the goals can simply be a tool for securing employment and emancipation of people through the provision and acquisition of necessary knowledge and skills to make lives more thriving.
Schooling in Nigeria must equip young people from secondary to higher institutions such as polytechnic, NCE, and university education to face the problem of self-sufficiency rather than focusing on white-collar occupations.
They concluded that Nigeria remains in the doldrums due to a combination of ignorance, low capacity building, and a lack of encouragement of entrepreneurship education if Nigeria wishes to move out of the disturbing high level of unemployment and ravaging level of poverty, corruption, and kidnapping. A comprehensive examination of the current condition of affairs in Nigeria reveals that we are not in the twenty-first century in terms of education. A system in which great emphasis is still placed on the traditional classroom atmosphere, with much focus on credentials for graduates who, in most cases, are trained to be job seekers, as seen by the country’s current high unemployment rate.However, we must accept that times have changed and that we must adapt by moving away from the old-fashioned era of Adam Smith’s inspired concept of the industrialised specialist, which has outlived its usefulness, and towards a more dynamic, resourceful, and ICT-based model in which skills and creativity take precedence.According to the National Population Commission (2006), more than half of the Nigerian population is under the age of 30. As a result, it can be said that Nigeria’s economy is a youth economy; today’s youth will become tomorrow’s parents, leaders, work force, president, teachers, and militaries in a short decade. However, Nigerian youths are believed to face poverty, unemployment, kidnapping, corruption, urbanisation, and a lack of talent and skills to propel the economy ahead. This is where entrepreneurship education as a course of study is required at the university level, with one of the aims stated by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) being the acquisition of physical and intellectual abilities that will enable persons to be self-sufficient. Thus, the Nigerian government’s blueprint emphasises self-reliance and self-employment with the ultimate goal of developing and sustaining the economy, resulting in lower unemployment in Nigeria.
Graduate unemployment is a significant issue. A major source of frustration for Nigerian teenagers is the prospect of joining countless other exhausted job seekers on the streets. This problem is not being addressed, but rather exacerbated, since private-sector organisations have discovered that in order to compete in the global marketplace, they must adopt new technology and processes. More jobs are being replaced by technology advancements. The desire to create more jobs is a clear reason for the relevance of entrepreneurial education.Entrepreneurship study and practise will provide available vehicle and financial growth, reflecting a style of thinking and doing that is good for success in many types of endeavours and in life in general. Nonetheless, the primary motivation for promoting entrepreneurial education appears to be the need for new jobs.
Some of the benefits of Entrepreneurship Education include:
Entrepreneurship education has assisted students in gaining knowledge and understanding of the concept: entrepreneurship education gives students with early exposure to entrepreneurship as well as contact with the world of business and wealth creation. It also teaches pupils about the roles of entrepreneurs in society.
Entrepreneurial education assists students in identifying and pursuing entrepreneurship as a career option: Entrepreneurship education has helped students become more aware of self-employment as a career alternative.
Despite the availability of white collar paid employment in the commercial and public sectors, graduates who choose to pursue professional professions face challenges. It is also beneficial to learn entrepreneurship skills in order to generate extra revenue and elevate themselves and their families out of poverty.
Young people (children) and women are the hardest hit by the Nigerian masses’/population’s financial predicament; poverty and unemployment cut across all social strata, and it now appears that a university education cannot serve as a lifeline out of poverty due to the alarming number of graduates still looking for jobs that don’t exist or accepting jobs that are below their qualification. This is seen in the increasing number of university graduates who, frustrated by a lack of work opportunities, accept jobs as minor office assistants and sectaries, nursery and primary school instructors, and even security women.
Entrepreneurship education assists students in developing economic and financial literacy. As a result of this education, students have a better understanding of economic and financial issues associated with entrepreneurship. They understand how to evaluate markets for commercial prospects, finance projects, and solve business problems.
It has instilled in students the spirit of self-employment and wealth creation, making students aware of the necessity to engage in entrepreneurship activities not only to support themselves, but also to create wealth for the benefit of the larger community. The importance of entrepreneurship in today’s Nigeria cannot be overstated, since unemployed graduates can rely on their talents and entrepreneurial knowledge to identify market openings and maximise production factors to their advantage.
Factors Interfering with Entrepreneurship Education in NigeriaSeveral factors impede entrepreneurial education in Nigeria, among them:
insufficient capitalOne of the key obstacles impeding entrepreneurship education in Nigeria is a lack of funds to start a firm after acquiring or learning specific information in school and other institutions, which leads to unemployment.
Inadequate Policy Implementation and FormulationSome policies developed in Nigeria are not successfully executed due to political incompetence, affecting entrepreneurship education and leading to unemployment.
In Nigeria, there is a negative societal attitude towards entrepreneurship education.In Nigeria, society does not favour entrepreneurship education because colonial masters’ education educated people to seek white collar employment rather than being job creators, which entrepreneurship education emphasises.
Macroeconomic environment that is unhealthy and unstable. The inability to meet macroeconomic goals will make it difficult for entrepreneurs to invest in a business. For example, the issue of Boko Haram, political instability, and so on create an uncertain economic environment that discourages investors.
People are afraid to take risks in entrepreneurship.Fear of people taking risks in business is caused by insecurity in the country, and it is also a factor that hinders entrepreneurial education, leading to unemployment.
Solution to the Obstacles to Entrepreneurship Education in Nigeria
a. The government should provide capital to final-year students in order to encourage them to start their own businesses.
b. Students should be educated on how to take risks, which will help them engage in entrepreneurial ventures.
c. Appropriate policies that promote entrepreneurial education in Nigeria should be developed and implemented.
d. Students should be encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship education at various higher education institutions.
e. A healthy and stable macroeconomic climate that encourages graduates to invest in any area of the country.
