CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background of the Study

Unemployment, both of the educated and the uneducated manpower, has become one of the most topical and thorny issues in contemporary Nigeria. The unemployment situation has changed from previous position marked by prolonged period of unemployment and misemployment, to one in which graduates of tertiary institutions have to normally wait for a long time before getting a first job – if at all. At the beginning of this millennium, employment crisis have emerged as the most challenging issue confronting many world economies. The continuing global economic slowdown and uncertain economic prospects have resulted in a grim global economic landscape. This plunged many economies into deep recession, the ripple effects of which have affected the job markets. These effects are more pronounced in the developing and underdeveloped countries of the world, with increased unemployment being the outcome (Hassan, 2013).

Nigeria has one of the highest levels of youth unemployment in the world with 60-65% (Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Report, 2008). These are mostly young adults that have graduated from universities and polytechnics or other institutions of higher learning. Available estimate shows that about 1.6 million persons, mostly young adults, graduate annually. In addition to this number, about 3.8 million others are certificate carrying youths that have no formal education, or have completed primary or secondary school, or dropped out from tertiary institutions all of which are annually poured into an already saturated labour market (Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Report, 2008).

Many of the youths are not productive and have actually been reduced to petty traders and smugglers; in many instances, the growth in this phenomenon is observable that unemployment rate in Nigeria has reached unacceptable dimension. Indeed, the labor market in Nigeria is dangerously close to saturation. Ekpo (2011) supports the fact that Nigeria’s unemployment situation is unacceptable.

Entrepreneurship education has continued to feature as a captivating theme in local summits and international conferences because of its potency as tool for mitigating unemployment and other social-economic challenges inhibiting sustainable development in all parts of the globe. Inclusion of entrepreneurship education into curricula of tertiary institutions started in the United States of America as far back as 1947 (Kuratko, cited in Akhuemonkhan, Raimi and Sofoluwe, 2013) unlike Nigeria where it is a recent development that dated back to 2006 (Yahya, 2011; Gabadeen and Raimi, 2012).

Entrepreneurship education is not a new phenomenon in the annals of Nigeria; it has always been an age-long tradition, a culture and a habit that has consistently been transferred from one generation to another within the diverse ethnic nationalities that made up Nigeria. Entrepreneurial mind-set is prevalent in Yorubaland in western Nigeria, Hausaland in the northern Nigeria and among the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria (Raimi, Shokunbi and Peluola, 2010).

1.2      Statement of the Problem

The unconducive economic conditions in Nigeria, namely lack of electricity, poor road network, poor communication system, insecurity, kidnapping, etc., have caused the close down of many companies, throwing many people into the labor market. In the year 2011 over 100 textile factories closed shops across the country and the trend continues. Principal among other reasons for this is lack of electricity. Factories depend on generators to power their machineries and this is inefficient and increases unit cost of production and makes their products uncompetitive (Adawo, Essien and Ekpo, 2012).

It is apt to mention however that, the age-long formal education inherited from the imperialist turned out graduates with job-seeking mind-sets as opposed to job-creation; they thus lack entrepreneurial traits like self-motivation, drive and innovation needed by the world of work and employers of labour (Towobola and Raimi, 2011; Raimi et al., 2011; Simkovic, 2012).

Educational institutions in Nigeria is not entrepreneurship oriented in nature thereby contributing to the level of unemployment in the country. In this vein, Aladekomo (cited in Akhuemonkhan, Raimi and Sofoluwe, 2013) asserts:

“…The colonial educational policy centred on the production of literate nationals who were required to man positions, which would strengthen the colonial administration. Thus our educational institutions, few as they were remained factories for producing clerks, interpreters, forest guards and sanitary inspectors as no special professional nor entrepreneurial skill was envisaged in the educational system” p75.

Furthermore, with rising population growth at geometric proportion relative to job placement that is growing at arithmetic progression, it becomes obvious that the nation’s formal education is fuelling unemployment, crime and cycle of poverty as graduates could not be absorbed. It then dawn on government that there is the dire need to redress the socio-economic implications of idleness and hopelessness with policy observers calling on the government to think on entrepreneurship education as a tool for reducing unemployment in Nigeria.

Another development is that the Nigerian school system produces “half” baked graduates, many of the so-called undergraduates pay others to write their projects, majority of them are unemployable. Most employers prefer Nigerians with foreign degrees. Nigerian universities produce graduates whose skills are suspect, making it difficult for them to be recruited. The reasons for this include admission overload, poor funding of universities and the “sorting” syndrome (Adawo, Essien and Ekpo, 2012).

Unemployment, underemployment and unmitigated rural-urban migration have come to characterize the Nigerian labour market. This has been compounded by frightening number of joiners as schools, polytechnics and universities churn out leavers in a geometric progression. This has impacted on the rate of social vices like robbery, kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking, child abuse and unfair labour practices experienced mostly by the unemployed youths, which are other noticeable dimensions to the complexities of contemporary Nigerian employment dynamics. According to the National Manpower Board (2009) the Nigeria labour market could barely absorb 10% of the over 3.8 million persons turned out by the Nigeria educational system on a yearly basis. In brief, the employment trends in Nigeria indicate that, without a concerted effort to tackle the problems of unemployment the situation could get worse. It is against this backdrop that this study evaluates the role of entrepreneurship education as a tool for reducing unemployment in Nigeria.

1.3    Purpose of the Study

The study is being conducted with the following aims;

        i.            To measure the extent at which entrepreneurship education will reduce unemployment in Lagos State University (LASU).

     ii.            To assess the correlates of youth entrepreneurship and job creation in Lagos State University.

   iii.            To examine the effect of entrepreneurship education on skills acquisition among Lagos State University graduates.

   iv.            To find out the role of entrepreneurship education in empowering Lagos State University graduates.

1.4     Research Questions

The undertaking of this research project will beam a searchlight on the following research questions;

1.      To what extent will entrepreneurship education reduce unemployment among Lagos State University (LASU) graduates?

.      What is the correlation between youth entrepreneurship and job creation in Lagos State University?

.      What is the relationship between entrepreneurship education and skills acquisition among Lagos State University graduates?

4.      Does entrepreneurship education play the role of empowering Lagos State University graduates?

1.5     Research Hypotheses

The researcher intends to test the following hypotheses at 5% level of significance;

H_o1:     There is no significant relationship between entrepreneurship education         and unemployment among Lagos State University (LASU) graduates.

H_o2:     Youth entrepreneurship is not significantly correlated with job creation in     Lagos State University.

H_o3:     There is no significant relationship between entrepreneurship education         and skills acquisition among Lagos State University graduates.

H_o4:     Entrepreneurship education is not empowering Lagos State University            graduates.

1.6    Significance of the Study