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Poverty Alleviation, Skill Acquisition and Human Capital Development Through
Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education in Nigeria.
T. O. Fakokunde, Ph.D
Department of Entrepreneurship, Federal University of Technology, Akure.
and
A. O. C. Oyinlola
Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
Corresponding author: 08033886270. viptopefaks@gmail.com
Abstract
Entrepreneurship education is now globally acknowledged. This is because of its increasing relevance as
a catalyst for social and economic empowerment among nations, as well as serving as a vehicle for poverty
alleviation, skill acquisition and employment generation. The paper reviewed theoretical literature on
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education to justify government renewed interest and current
efforts in these areas. This serves as a background to conceptualise and unveil a variety of new business
start-up ideas and skill acquisition opportunities for would-be entrepreneurs, which can be hitherto applied
to address current unemployment situations and human capital inadequacies in Nigeria. This is also used
to suggest a new pathway for developing a long lasting entrepreneurial behavior and orientation amidst
current challenges facing the rapid growth of entrepreneurial activities in Nigeria. The paper is concluded
by considering the implications of introducing compulsory entrepreneurship education at all levels.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, poverty alleviation, skill acquisition, human capital development.
Introduction
Over the past decades, there has been increasing and conscious efforts at embracing
entrepreneurship and its education globally, towards resolving and finding solutions to the menace
of poverty, unemployment and human capital inadequacies. It is now generally acknowledged that
entrepreneurship education equipped graduates with the ability to operate in a highly competitive,
complex and dynamic environment (Bill and Bowen-Jones, 2006). In this direction, most
governments especially in developing countries, recognising it as a vital ingredient of economic
integration have gone a step further by integrating entrepreneurship development programmes in
their economic and educational policies. Nigerian government also realising this, formulated
educational policies as far back as the 80s, to start training people in schools from primary to
tertiary levels towards national development, skills acquisition and wealth creation, although the
extent to which these programmes have succeeded in building the expected human capital and
wealth creation is not clear so long as more youth remains unemployed and are still job seekers
(Idisi, 2012). As in the case of Nigeria, one begins to wonder whether the real problem is the over
production of persons with little or no relevant skills.
Nevertheless, of huge significance is the contribution of a sustainable entrepreneurial educational
programme towards eradication of poverty, enhanced skill acquisition and employment
generation. Recognizing this, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural organization
(UNESCO) in 2001 confirms both universal primary education and adult education as central to
the fight against poverty as part of the millennium development goals. Also, considering the words
of the late President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania that education is not a way to escape poverty but
a way of fighting it (UNESCO, 2001), the crucial issues to be addressed must include how
education will align with the renewed entrepreneurial drive to offer a wide range of technical
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know-how and work-force needed for a productive economy to strive. It must also serve as a
platform for self-reliance, autonomy and independence providing opportunities for steering new
business startups.
As part of efforts to use education to address these issues, Nigerian governments of recent have
also come out with various national development policies such as the National Economic
Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS) which recognizes education as the
transformational tool and formidable instrument for socio-economic empowerment. Also as part
of the demands of nation building, the NEEDS advocated the implementation of reform strategies
in the education curricula based on individual competencies.
Also, without prejudice to the significant role of education in instilling the entrepreneurial mindset
in our youth right from school, various agencies and schemes were set up with the intention of
improving the vocational skills of Nigerian youths. Some of these agencies include the Small and
Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Small and Medium Industries
Equity Investment Scheme (SMIEIS), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National
Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) and National
Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).
But, the fact still remains that all these efforts lack the required bites at ensuring that graduates of
tertiary institutions are incubated to the level of setting up their own businesses as a way of
stimulating the nation’s economic growth. Thus, for a proper and result-oriented implementation,
a serious departure from the current manner of doing things is needed at all levels.
It is against this background that this paper examines the pathways to attaining a sustainable
entrepreneurship education towards solving the issues of poverty, skill acquisition and human
capital deficiencies in Nigeria. Additionally, with the motive of arousing and stimulating more
interest in entrepreneurial ventures, the paper unveils a variety of new business start-up ideas and
skill acquisition opportunities waiting to be tapped by Nigerian graduates.
Poverty Alleviation, Skill Acquisition and Human Capital Development in Nigeria.
As stakeholders continue to tinker with the Nigerian education system, it is necessary to explore
the tripartite issues of poverty alleviation, skill acquisition and human capital development. The
Nigerian education system ordinarily, is expected to be functional and relieve the burden of risen
unemployment. Simply put, unemployment is a state of not being employed or engaged in
productive services in order to cater for at least basic needs of life. The inability to satisfy these
basic needs is termed as poverty, which according to the World Bank (2015) is now reclassified
as living on $1.90 or less a day which as at 2011 was about 12.7% of the world’s population.
According to www.globalissues.org.article.poverty (2016), almost half the world- over three
billion people- live on less than $2.50 a day.
Poverty, therefore can be understood simply as a lack of money or a barrier to convenient daily
living. It is manifested in hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic
services. Odion (2009) sees poverty as people’s inability to acquire the basic necessities of life
such as food, clothing and shelter. Defining poverty from social perspective, the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP 2003) as cited in Kor, Akaakohol and Mile (2013) stated that
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poverty is a multidimensional social phenomenon that can be analytically divided into two main
dimensions: income poverty, which is the lack of income necessary to satisfy basic needs and
human poverty which is the lack of human capabilities like life expectancy, material, health,
education, nutrition, clean water and perceptions of well-being. Suffice to say, efforts at tackling
poverty is basically targeted at reducing unemployment and improving human welfare.
The enormous unemployment, especially among youths in Nigeria is alarming and left much to be
desired. Current figure puts youth unemployment rate at over 25%, with more than 60 million
Nigerian youths currently unemployed (Eroke, 2012). Efforts on the part of the authorities to arrest
this trend of massive graduate unemployment by promoting entrepreneurial education and skill
acquisition trainings is well desired (Oni, 2006) and is expected to turn the tide around if all these
initiatives are properly directed and well delivered.
As far as Nigeria is concerned, most skills acquisition programmes introduced for the youth are
usually associated to those with mental and academic deficiencies, who may rather be productive
using their hands and physical strength only. It is erroneous to design an educational system which,
at a certain stage, allows only those that are not academically sound to proceed for vocational and
technical trainings. Then, what is entrepreneurship education and other several programmes and
schemes introduced to reduce unemployment among the youths bound to achieve. The mentality
that skill acquisition programmes are designed for those who are incapable of making it
academically must be corrected. Skill acquisition goes beyond one’s ability to use the hands.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2015) defines skill to include both “ the ability to use one’s
knowledge effectively and readily in execution or performance”, and “ dexterity or coordination
especially in execution of learned physical tasks” What we are saying here is that skill acquisition
programmes will remain like a leprosy to the Nigerian youth and will fail to develop the expected
human capital needed to rebuild the system unless this notion is corrected through a well-
developed entrepreneurial education and skill development progranne. This is because the
usefulness of acquired knowledge and skills lie in the power of transformation of such knowledge
and skills into useful resources through creativity and effective entrepreneurial skill development.
Thus, skills development according to Oni (2006), goes beyond training and education, it involves
a process of human capacities building through formal and informal training inculcating in the
entrepreneur basic skills such as financial skills, technical skills, creative skills, managerial skills,
intellectual skills, marketing skills, communication skills and technological skills.
Human capital refers to the stock of knowledge, skills and abilities embedded in an individual
(Liebowatz, 2004). According to dictionary.com. (2015), human capital is defined as the collective
skills, knowledge or other intangible assets of individuals that can be used to create economic
value for the individuals, their employees or their community. The effectiveness of human capital
largely depends on how it is developed, and education is critical in its development (Utisi, 2012).
Human capital development is therefore about a process of building a virile, productive and
functional workforce for all round development of the nation. It is about creating the whole person
needed in driving the economy.
Human capital development as part of economic and social issues started gaining reasonable
attention from scholars in the 50s, nd 60s (Blaug, 1976). Various researchers have also highlighted
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its huge contribution to the national growth and development process in terms of wealth creation
such as (Romer, 1990). Human Development Report (HDR) (2001) has also linked the demand
for skill labour and the quality and orientation of education at all levels as critical for growth.
Since education is critical in the development of human capital, training of officers becomes
imperative so long as it helps them to raise their outputs and income level (Aliu, 2007). Umo
(2007) therefore advised developing countries desirable of rapid wealth creation and poverty
eradication to invest more in human capital formation. This probably justifies Nigeria’s efforts
over the years in formulating educational policies to train its workforce towards national
development and wealth creation. Nigeria’s expenditure on education which was 4.2% of her GDP
(at 1984 factor cost) and 20% of her budget, according to Idisi (2012), is although part of her
efforts towards building of human capital through education. Although this has tremendously
increased manpower supply in the country, its positive effects will still remain unclear so long as
graduates remain more unemployed and job seekers. Adeniyi (2008) is of the opinion that efforts
at manpower planning and manpower production are still not balanced resulting in constant
shortfall as manifested in the upsurge in youth unemployment which has worsened in the last
decade. IMF (2015) reported the world unemployment rate in 2011 as 23.9% while according to
Vanguard (2015), the McKinsey Survey presented at the January, 2015 World Economic Forum
in Davos reported youth unemployment rate as 50% for Nigeria. Suffice to say that the Nigerian
education system has failed the practical functionality test by not producing graduates who possess
self employability skills for wealth creation and poverty reduction.
Arising from the above, the main issue that must be collectively addressed in the 21st century
Nigeria is how to reenergize and adapt our educational policy and re-orientate our value system
towards generation of gainful employment by producing the right set of skilled manpower needed
for development and poverty eradication.
Concepts of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Development.
There now exist a wide range of definitions on the concept of entrepreneurship since it was first
used by Richard Cantillon, an Irish-French economist in the early 18th century. For instance,
Cantillon (1725) sees an entrepreneur as a person who pays a certain price, thereby making
decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of the
enterprise. McClelland (1961) defines an entrepreneur as a person with high need for achievement.
In his own view, Meredith (1983) considers an entrepreneur as a person who possesses the ability
to recognize and evaluate business opportunities, assemble the necessary resources to take
advantage of them and take appropriate actions to ensure success. Also in defining
entrepreneurship, Johansson (2004) sees it as the ability of an individual to identify gaps in the
community and bringing together the resources in an innovative and profitable way to fill the gaps,
while Momoh (2008), on his own part, simply defines it as the ability of an individual to start a
business at his financial risk.
From the foregoing, it is noted that entrepreneurship as a concept is loaded with meanings, but
many scholars have come to terms by agreeing that entrepreneurship foundation is laid with the
anticipated outcome of wealth creation which is a product of creativity, innovation, and risk-
taking. It is a process of diffusing initiative into a business concept which thereafter transform into
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a profitable venture. This is corroborated by Steinhoff and Burgers (1993) by asserting that the
sole idea of entrepreneurship is the ability to develop a new venture or apply a new approach to an
old business to be self-reliant. We are concerned here with its link particularly to education as well
as its implications to poverty eradication, employment generation and wealth creation.
Entrepreneurship is an important tool of economic growth, productivity and employment is
globally accepted as a key variable of economic dynamism and revitalization for it unveils a
reflection of harnessing limited resources optimally and exploiting same for the survival of
individuals and the economy. An entrepreneur, therefore while searching for personal
opportunities to harness amidst challenges, explores the limited resources at his disposal and turns
it around to create a value beneficial to him and the society at large. The above being a summary
of entrepreneurial activities leaves so much to contend with. This is because, entrepreneurs are not
born, they are made. They actually need to pass through a developmental process. The more reason
attention must be shifted towards remodeling the society towards the developmental process of
growth, progress and improvement within a physical setting, environment and time frame.
Abereijo (2015) in suggesting developing a framework for entrepreneurship asserts the need for
the development of a sustainable entrepreneurial behavior.
Also since entrepreneurship strives to turn resources and situations to practical account achievable
only through organized trainings, entrepreneurship development is a process of orgaising these
trainings through systematic and planned programmes. It focuses on the development of potentials
and aggressive pursuit and implementation of innovative ideas. Entrepreneurship development
also viewed as a destination, involves reaching a level whereby a sustainable entrepreneurial
system is achieved by avoiding a profit-driven mentality that may eventually lead to imbalances
but promoting a system that responds to both the physical and cultural environment. In similar
vein, Matanmi and Awodun (2005) maintain that Nigeria must give adequate attention to the
growth of entrepreneurship to cushion the effect of skyrocketing unemployment and ravaging
poverty level. It is therefore incumbent on the authorities to recognize, raise and promote
indigenous entrepreneurs with a view of raising the quality of life of individuals, families and
communities at large (Ezeigbo and Uka, 2010) and also to attain its full potential in economic and
social development (Ariyo, 2008). Developing entrepreneurship therefore is unquestionably a
means of providing employment and a powerful weapon of fighting poverty in the country (Carew,
2012).
Entrepreneurship Education
Entrepreneurship education is considered here as the driver of entrepreneurship leading to a desired
state of entrepreneurship development in a nation. It is an education that seeks to provide students
with the knowledge, skills and the motivation to encourage them get entrepreneurship successes
in a variety of ways and settings (Ike-Obioha, Obiefuna, Ifegbo and Uwazurike, 2010). Lawal
(2009) viewed entrepreneurship education as a process of providing individuals with the concept
of skills to recognize opportunities that others have overlooked and to have insight, self-esteem
and knowledge to act where others have hesitated.
Entrepreneurship education in modern day world according to Kourilsky (1995) is necessitated by
three factors; the need to satisfy students demand for information about entrepreneurship, the need
to provide students with skills related to creating jobs rather than training them to take up existing
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jobs, and the need for economic growth through developing small scale industries. Thus,
entrepreneurial education according to Paul (2005) should be functional and structured to ensure
that graduates become self-employed and self-reliant through adequate training that will enable
them to be creative and innovative in identifying novel business opportunities. Entrepreneurship
education also helps change the mindset of young people about entrepreneurship and encourage
them to consider it as a possible path for the future (Wilson, 2008).
Attaining the above therefore involves focusing on individual skills and attributes with the aim of
developing and practising it effectively. This requires both formal and informal education which
provide wide-ranging skills. Early primary and secondary education will lay the concrete
foundation for this, while the Universities, Polytechnic and colleges are expected to follow.
Vocational institutes or training centres also play an indisputable role in this direction. Moreover,
the acquisition of skills is a lifelong process, so also should entrepreneurship education be.
It is expected that developing these skills make the graduates both able to be employed by someone
or stand on his own to make a living and create wealth that can make him employ others. In view
of the above, the challenges set before stakeholders in the education sector now include how to
harness, inculcate and develop the entrepreneurial career of the youth (Carew, 2012).
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigeria: An Overview
Undaunted in the search to use education to resolve the protracted problem of unemployment and
reduce poverty by empowering students to be able to harness opportunities and be self-reliant,
Nigerian governments have formulated several educational policies and programmes till date.
There was the introduction of 6-3-3-4 system of education introduced in 1982 to replace the
elsewhile 6-5-4 system. The system was further complimented with the establishment of the
National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in 1986 Also, in 2002, in cognizance of the necessity
to imbue graduates with the mindset of enterprise and innovativeness in order to generate and
realize new opportunities in the economy, the federal government directed that Entrepreneurship
Studies be injected into the curriculum of university education and other tertiary institutions as a
general and compulsory subject. Thereafter, many higher institutions were further encouraged to
establish entrepreneurship study centre where students would be exposed to specific trades and
skills of interest. Most universities took further steps by establishing degree programmes in
Entrepreneurship. According to the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission
(NUC), Prof Julius Okojie, all these steps are taken out of the need to update the standard and
relevance of university education as essential platform to produce globally competitive graduates
and job-creators, armed with appropriate knowledge of skills, competences and dispositions, who
can bring about the much desired social and economic transformation.
As good as the intention of offering entrepreneurial education in Nigeria’s higher institutions may
be, it is deficient in certain areas and also faced with various challenges and difficulties. According
to Jonah and Orimolade (1991), such constraints noted in the proper implementation of
entrepreneurial education initiatives in Nigeria include inadequate funding, insecurity and
unfriendly business environment, dearth of infrastructure, general lack of technical department and
government insensitivity. It is also characterized by purely theoretical school curriculum, syllabus
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overload, conventional teaching methods lacking hands-on focus, ill-equipped skill acquisition
centres, lack of mentoring opportunities and workshop experience among others.
It follows therefore that entrepreneurial education in Nigeria gives an introductory idea that the
Nigeria graduate may be prepared to serve but not to create (Araba, 2012). Many courses have
nothing to do with business start-up, development and management. Science, Arts and other
disciplines predominate only on technicalities and not on their applications outside the walls of the
institutions for profitability.
This goes to say that entrepreneurial education as currently practiced in Nigerian leaves much to
be desired and may not be expected to turn the tide of high unemployment around in the nearest
future.
Achieving Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education in Nigeria
Sustainable entrepreneurship education is about providing a functional/effective education.
According to Abereijo (2015), a sustainable entrepreneurial education system responds to both the
physical and cultural environment while at the same time avoids a profit-driven mentality that may
eventually lead to imbalances in the system.
Achieving sustainable entrepreneurship education in Nigeria involves:
• Ensuring that entrepreneurship create the desired value needed for economic and social
development. Jones and English (2004) added that for a nation to succeed in this ever
changing and more competitive global market, the stimulation of entrepreneurial spirit must
be characterised with innovations and risk taking capabilities. Suffice to say, educating
students to be potential entrepreneurs is not enough, their talents must actually be discovered
and nurtured to establish businesses of their choices which may eventually grow big in the
nearest future.
• Ensuring graduate employability becomes 100% and by implication, finding solutions to
unemployment through education.
A recent survey conducted shows that 75% of professors believe they are adequately preparing
their students for the workforce while only 40% of employers share the same view (Vanguard,
2015). Both situations are totally unacceptable and as a matter of necessity, the following steps
are therefore suggested along the pathways of searching for a sustainable entrepreneurship
education in Nigeria. This may require a complete paradigm shift for the entire educational
system, including changing the fundamentals of how our institutions of learning operate and their
role in the society (Wilson, 2008).
Integration of experiential curriculum into the school academic programs is part of government
effort in introducing entrepreneurship education at all levels. In so doing, students will be exposed
to a combination of academic and workshop experience including realistic case studies in various
subjects while at lower levels and in their areas of concern at higher levels. This encourages early
initiation of entrepreneurial spirit and development of a positive mindset of innovative behaviour
from the onset. It will also go a long way in discouraging paper qualification mentality we inherited
from western education. It is therefore important to develop entrepreneurial skills and attitudes at
all levels of formal education and making it a lifelong learning.
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Reorientation of all stakeholders: the challenge before stakeholders in the education sector now is
how to harness, inculcate and develop the entrepreneurial career of our youthful generation. The
mentality that skill acquisition programmes are designed for those who are incapable of making it
academically must be corrected (Carew, 2012). Skill acquisition goes beyond one’s ability to use
the hands. It also involves the ability to use one’s knowledge effectively and readily in execution
or performance.
Reenergizing the universities and other higher institutions through proper funding, adequate
exposure, proper monitoring of internship and other practical oriented academic activities of
students, Authorities should stop paying lip service to entrepreneurial development. Most centres
of entrepreneurship are established to siphon government money. Universities and the likes should
refocus their attention and mission to producing highly self-reliant professionals and academic
entrepreneurs.
Enhancement of collaboration between entrepreneurs and educational institutions: Adejimola and
Olufunmilayo (2009) decried the present situation in which nothing is being done to bring the
entrepreneur and the institution together. The synergy needs to be strengthened in order for
students to be more exposed to workplace experience and mentoring. The creation of a healthy
working partnership to bridge the existing gap between the higher institution and the industry will
be further enhanced if lecturers too are required to possess adequate field experiences.
Other suggestions include:
• Providing an enabling environment for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to
strive through sponsorship, access to funds and soft loans, tax incentives, steady supply of
electricity and fuel, favourable import/export and foreign exchange policy, security,
political stability and exposure to global best practices among others. As engines of growth,
priority should be given to the development and sustenance of small and medium scale
enterprises which according to 2012 Enterprise Baseline Survey contribute about 46.5% of
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for over 25% of employment in the
country (Elebeke, 2012). Similarly, budding entrepreneurs should be exposed to various
sources of information, new areas of business opportunities, new technologies.
• government agencies (SMEDAN, NDE, NYSC etc), research institutes, professional
bodies, non-governmental organizations as well as development partners should be
encouraged to develop and organize entrepreneurship awareness and training programmes,
seminars on investment opportunities, sources of raw materials, new and improved
technologies, conversion of relevant research findings and disseminate information
necessary for business survival and growth.
• Strengthening of career counseling centres as an ingredient of entrepreneurship education
in schools to properly guide student’s choice of profession.
• Rebranding and strengthening of government agencies such as SMEDAN, NAPEP, NDE
and the likes to accommodate entrepreneurship and skill acquisition training programmes
run by higher institutions.
• Registration of an umbrella professional body to regulate and coordinate the practice of
entrepreneurship and its education in Nigeria.
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A VARIETY OF NEW BUSINESS START-UP IDEAS AND SKILL ACQUISITION
OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOULD-BE ENTREPRENEURS
Note: Students to ensure that they are proficient in at least one of the following, which may or may
not be relevant to their course of study, at graduation.
• Costumes and bead making
• Adire and Textile making
• Still and In-situ Photography
• Computer programming and Web
designing
• Baby wears and fashion designing
• Leather works, shoe making and
reparing
• Solar power designing
• Welding, fabrication and metallugical
services
• GSM repairing and software
programming.
• Laptops repairing and software
programming.
• Security alarm installation
• Car maintenance and fault detection
• Car washing
• Soap and detergent making
• Distillery
• Agripreneurship
• Interlocking and road maintenance
• Furniture and office equipment
making and designing
• Matweaving and leather works
• Plumbing works and Household
equipment installation
• Painting and Decoration
• Printing, Book works, Editing and
Publishing
• Interior decorations
• Exterior decoration and gardening
• Cake making and events management
• Indoor and outdoor Catering services
• Recreational and and relaxation
services
• Gynassium and physical exercise
services
• Barbing and hairdressing
• Beauty therapy and Make-up services
• Comedy and theatric arts
• Game betting
• Day care and creche services
• Mortuary and funeral undertaking
services
• Drycleaning and fumigation services
• etc
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CONCLUSION
Introducing entrepreneurship education in Nigeria is a great leap towards economic emancipation
of Nigeria. In this paper issues relating to the sustenance of entrepreneurship education were
examined with a view of identifying and suggesting more areas of improvement towards solving
the present state of increased poverty and high rate of unemployment among the youth through
effective skill-acquisition.
The paper succeeded in lending its voice to previous calls over the years for the adoption of a
sustainable entrepreneurship education system in Nigeria so long as the need is still overwhelming.
Suffice to say in spite of various measures taking by government to encourage entrepreneurs in
Nigeria, a desirable result is yet to be achieved as observed in the inability of both the private and
public sector to absorb the ever increasing Nigerian graduates into their workforce. About 80% of
Nigerian graduates still find it hard to get employment every year (Adejimola and Olufunmikayo,
2009). Equally is the failure of Nigerian educational institution of not producing graduates who
possess self-employability skills for wealth creation and poverty reduction.
In the same vein, attempts have been made in this paper to contribute to rich literature in the area
of study in support of its widespread acceptance and huge significance to economic stability.
Arising from above, the paper has demonstrated that the call for a sustainable entrepreneurship
education is long overdue and that the implication of implementing it at all levels is not far-fetched.
Thus, the main issue that must be collectively addressed in the 21st century Nigeria is how to
reenergize and adapt our educational policy and re-orientate our value system to produce the right
set of skilled manpower needed for development and poverty eradication.
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