Entrepreneurship Education in Nigeria: A Tool For Youths’ Empowerment

Abstract

This paper empirically examines entrepreneurship education in Nigeria as a tool for youth empowerment in the face of persistent challenges such as unemployment, insecurity, poverty, corruption, and lack of political will, coupled with an economy that sheds more jobs than it creates. The study emphasizes entrepreneurship education as a viable means of empowering youths and achieving sustainable development. Specifically, the objectives were to determine the influence of skill acquisition on the availability of equipment, ascertain the effect of training and development on poverty alleviation palliatives, and examine the relationship between education and self-fulfillment in the Vocational Technical Training Center (VTTC), Coal Camp, Enugu. The research adopted a survey design with a sample size of 32 questionnaires, of which 23 were returned and 8 not retrieved. Instrument validation was conducted using face-to-face content validity with expert review to ensure measurement accuracy. Findings revealed that skill acquisition significantly affects the availability of equipment (r = 0.849; t = 27.726; F = 768.754; P < 0.05), training and development significantly affect poverty alleviation (r = 0.885; t = 32.865; F = 1080.094), and a positive relationship exists between education and self-fulfillment (r = 0.799; P < 0.05). The study concludes that entrepreneurship education is a panacea to poverty, hunger, and youth unemployment in Nigeria and recommends that youths should be adequately prepared for entrepreneurial engagement through improved facilities and pedagogy.