Poverty Alleviation, Skill Acquisition and Human Capital

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES Volume 3, No 1, January - December 2020

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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. [email protected]

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

http://www.globalissues.org.article.poverty/


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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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Poverty Alleviation, Skill Acquisition and Human Capital