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Asia Pacific Journal of Educators and Education, Vol. 29, 155–175, 2014
© Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2014
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN NIGERIAN
UNIVERSITIES: A TOOL FOR NATIONAL
TRANSFORMATION
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare1 and David Jimoh Kayode2*
1Faculty of Education,
2 Department of Educational Management,
University of Ilorin, Nigeria
*Corresponding author: davetol@yahoo.com
Abstract. Nigeria is faced with myriad of problems among which are graduate
unemployment, poverty, crime, and other social vices, which are as a result of economic
meltdown or unsustainable development in the country, which needs urgent attention. In
order to overcome this menace, this position paper examines the nature and concept of
entrepreneurship education and its application for graduates of Nigerian universities. The
specific impact of entrepreneurship education on the society for national transformation
among which are the provision of employment opportunities, increase in Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), improved standard of living as well as under-dependency on white collar
job by the universities’ graduates are discussed. The paper comes up with a model of how
public and private partnership can be enhanced through entrepreneurship education in
Nigerian universities towards national transformation. The challenges of entrepreneurship
education which include inadequate trainers or little knowledge of entrepreneurship by
the universities’ lecturers, inadequate fund for the program by the universities
administrators as well as challenges in the area of curriculum development and
implementation were also pointed out and recommendations were made on how such
challenges can be overcome towards the practical realisation of entrepreneurship
education in our higher institutions.
Keywords: Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial education, transformation
agenda, Nigerian universities
INTRODUCTION
Due to the current political, economic, and social influence of the global
economic meltdown, many countries of the world have resolve to focus on their
domestic economy so as to foster a sustainable and virile domestic economy that
will be moderately resistant from the economic and financial strangling that may
try to reoccur in the future. The recent global economic meltdown has brought to
the limelight, as well as the reality, that the world is a global market (Banabo &
Ndiomu, 2011).
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
156
Nigeria has a history of post-colonial agrarian economy and is now heavily
dependent on the oil and gas economy (Ahiauzu, 2010). Efforts are now being
made to diversify the economy by investing for example in agriculture and also
encouraging the manufacturing sector. However, entrepreneurship-led
development strategies are now being emphasised as these have proven
successful in several Less Developed Countries (LCDs).
The Nigerian economy which used to thrive on agricultural exports such as
cocoa, groundnut, hides and skin, is now solely dependent on the price of oil in
the international market. It is a common knowledge that any fall in the price of
oil will result to a fall in the domestic Nigerian economy. It was therefore no
surprise that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the National
Universities Commission (NUC), introduced Entrepreneurship Education (EE),
which is aimed at equipping tertiary students with entrepreneurial skills, attitudes
and competencies in order to be job creators and not just job hunters. This is to
improve the economic, technological and industrial development of the nation, as
well as to reduce poverty to its minimum.
Entrepreneurship is no doubt a dynamic process of vision, change, and creation.
It requires an application of energy and passion towards the creation and
implementation of new ideas and creative solutions. Characteristics of
entrepreneurship policies include the willingness to take calculated risks in terms
of time, equity, or career; ability to formulate effective venture teams;
evolvement of creative skills to marshall needed resources; and fundamental
skills of building solid business plan. Recognising opportunity where others see
chaos, contradiction, and confusion is also an important priority for
entrepreneurship driven policies (Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2004). These are expected
in the long run to help create business and thus enhance economic development.
Other characteristics such as seeking opportunities, taking risks beyond security,
and having the tenacity to push an innate idea through to reality generally
permeate entrepreneurs (Kuratko, 2005).
A major defect in the Nigerian educational system, inclusive of the universities,
is its theoretical inclination. For one instance, most Nigerian universities produce
graduate who are at best only suited for white collar jobs and have little or no
basic skills of any other vocational relevance. Naturally, such a situation will lead
to high unemployment rate especially among university graduates (Ejere &
Tende, 2012).
The contribution of an entrepreneur to any nations’ economy can simply be
observed in a situation where he acts as an employer, innovator as well as risk-
bearer that are extensively recognised by the society. Thus, a major policy aim in
fostering entrepreneurship education is therefore the general support and training
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
157
of entrepreneurs. There has been a long argument whether an entrepreneur can be
trained in the classroom and by extension, the school but the general opinion now
is that entrepreneurs can be trained at least to some extent in the classroom
(Solomon & Fernald, 1991).
In view of the positive social and economic effects of entrepreneurship, many
Nigerian universities are now advancing entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour
to develop students’ awareness of the relevance of entrepreneurship training.
Oviawe (2010) had reiterated the massive unemployment of Nigerian universities
graduates in the country and had traced the problem to the disequilibrium
between labour market requirements and lack of essential employable skills by
the graduates. Findings from a three-week large scale, rapid national survey in
2004 jointly sponsored by NUC and the Education Trust Fund (ETF) to
determine the needs of the labour market which Nigerian university graduates are
failing to meet are shocking. Of the 100 individuals and 20 organizstions visited,
44% rated Nigerian science graduates as average in competence, 56% rated them
as average in innovation, 50% rated them average in rational judgment, 63% as
average in leadership skills, while 44% as average in creativity. However, 60% of
the respondents rated the graduate as very poor in the needed skills such as
literacy, oral communication, information technology, entrepreneurial, analytical,
problem-solving, and decision-making. Such findings explain why there has been
very obvious increase in unemployment rate (Oviawe, 2010).
That is why in 2006, the Federal Government directed Nigerian Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs) to include Entrepreneurship Education (EEd) as a compulsory
course for all students with effect from the 2007/2008 academic session (Aliu,
2008) which led to the inclusion of EEd in the curriculum of all universities and
other higher education in Nigeria. Most of the universities in Nigeria now have a
centre for entrepreneurship education in their respective institutions.
THE CONCEPT AND NATURE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
EDUCATION
Shane (2003) described entrepreneurship as the act of being an entrepreneur.
According to Shane, the word ‘entrepreneur’ can be taken to mean an individual
who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to
transform innovations into economic goods and the result of one effort in
entrepreneurship may be the creation of a new organisation or revitalising an
existing organisation in response to a perceived opportunity. According to him,
Bill Gates could not have for an example made his fortune if Steve Jobs did not
seen the opportunity to build and sell personal computers; neither could Steve
Jobs have built a personal computer if Gordon Moore had not invented the
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
158
microprocessor. Thus, acts of entrepreneurship create specific environment
within which innovations build on themselves, leading to continually increasing
productivity (Holcombe, 1998).
In the past ten years, entrepreneurship has been extended to cover such areas as
socio-cultural, political, and educational forms of entrepreneurial activity.
Consequently, when large companies venture into entrepreneurial activities, it is
described as “intrapreneurship” or “corporate spin-off”. In school context,
entrepreneurship education can be divided into three aims that are: learn to
understand entrepreneurship, learn to become entrepreneurial and learn to
become an entrepreneur (Hytti, 2002). In modern day vocabulary, any individual
industry or business leader with innovative and creative business abilities is
described as an entrepreneur or someone who engages in entrepreneurship
(Okala, 2008). The entrepreneur is the one who ventures into the business of
organising and managing, while entrepreneurship is the service rendered by the
entrepreneur (Akanwa & Agu, 2005). By and large, the entrepreneur is the
‘person’ who perceives a business opportunity and takes advantage of the scarce
resources to meet with unlimited opportunities profitably.
The entrepreneur bears non-insurable risks and directs human and material
resources to achieve economic, social, and financial goals of the enterprise.
Several authors have described Entrepreneurs as Adam Smith and Robert
Cantillon in the late 17th and 18th centuries respectively, observed that the
entrepreneur is an actor in macroeconomics but the study of entrepreneurship was
ignored theoretically until 19th and 20th centuries, and empirically until a
profound resurgence in business and economy in the last 50 years. The
understanding of entrepreneurship was not clear until the 20th century. This giant
leap is credited to the works of economist Joseph Schumpeter in the 1930s and
other Austrian economist such as Carl Menger, Ludwig Von Mises and Friedrich
Von Hayek. Most credit definitely goes to Schumpeter who described the
entrepreneur as a person who is willing and able to convert new ideas or
invention into a successful innovation (Schumpeter, 1942). Unlike most authors
who described the entrepreneur as someone who bears risk, Schumpeter
disagrees. He said it is the capitalist that bears the risk. The early scholars in the
field claim that entrepreneur reflects a kind of person willing to put his or her
career and financial security on the line and take risks in the name of an idea.
Such individuals spend much time as well as capital (wealth created in other to
create further wealth) on an uncertain venture. According to Knight (1921),
uncertainty can be classified into three dimensions viz-a-viz risk which are
measurable statistically; ambiguity (hard to measure statistically) and true
uncertainty which is impossible to estimate or predict statistically.
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
159
Statistically, the act of entrepreneurship is difficult to predict since it involves a
high measure of risk and uncertainty. Hence, there is need for an entrepreneur to
be equipped and willing to face the future with their limited resources, and be
determined to run the venture successfully.
Entrepreneurship involves innovation; bringing something new to a market that
does not exist before. Even if the market already exists, there is no guarantee that
the new product will survive the introduction stage of the product life cycle,
taking into consideration the teething competition. Some scholars are of the view
that entrepreneurship is a service rendered by anyone who starts a new business
(Ogundele, Sofoluwe & Kayode, 2012). According to Akanwa and Agu (2005),
anyone who creates a business, establishes it and nurses it towards growth and
profitability, or takes over an existing business because the founder is dead or has
sold it, or who inherited it and continues to build and innovate it, or who runs a
franchise, qualifies as an entrepreneur. From this definition, an individual can
become an entrepreneur through: self-establishment; taking over already existing
business; inherited business venture and franchisement. Any individual can
become an entrepreneur through any of these means. Furthermore, any person
who has the zeal and ability to discover and evaluate opportunities, generate
resources and takes steps towards taking advantage of such opportunities can
become an entrepreneur. The role of entrepreneurship towards the economic and
social development of a nation include: identification of business opportunities;
selection of opportunities; decision on form of enterprise; allocation and
distribution of resources; coordination of other factors of production such as land,
labour, and capital; planning and controlling organisational programmes and
activities; mobilisation and utilisation of locally produced raw materials; risk
bearing; creating of employment opportunities; marketing activities for customer
satisfaction; Promote balanced regional development, reduces concentration on
economic power; and innovation to meet with needs of local market (Danko,
2005; Kumar, 2011; Ogundele, Kayode, Oduleke, & Alade, 2013).
Entrepreneurship education is made of all kinds of experiences that give students
the ability and vision of how to access and transform opportunities of different
kinds. As such, it goes beyond business creation (Enu, 2012). It is about
increasing student’s ability to participate and respond to societal changes.
Entrepreneurship education according to Emeraton (2008) deals with those
attitudes and skills that are necessary for the individual to respond to its
environment in the process of conserving, starting and managing a business
enterprise. He observed that certain basic attitudes and skills are essential for an
individual to respond positively to his environment and explore its potentials.
This implies that entrepreneurship education prepares the individual to be
properly equipped to acquire saleable skills which could be used to manage his
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
160
own business or that of other persons (Oduwaiye, 2009). Entrepreneurship
education – or enterprise education as it is sometimes called is that education
which assists students to develop positive attitudes, innovation and skills for self-
reliance rather than depending on the government for employment. Such an
experience will in return produce graduates with self-confidence and capacities
for independent thought to discover new information leading to economic
development.
Entrepreneurship education is the type of education designed to change the
orientation and attitude of the recipients and the process will equip them with the
skills and knowledge to enable them start and manage a business. It aims at
developing the requisite entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, competencies, and
disposition that will predispose the individual to be a driving force in managing a
business (Agu, 2006). On the other hand, entrepreneurship education can be said
to focus on developing understanding and capacity for pursuit of entrepreneurial
behaviours, skills and attitudes in widely different contexts. This type of
education is open to all and not exclusively the domain of the some self-
acclaimed business gurus. This is more so true in the sense that these behaviours
can be practiced, developed and learned therefore it is important to expose all
students to entrepreneurship education (Akpomi, 2009).
Aig-Imoukhuede (1988) identified ten of the attitudes and skills that would-be
entrepreneurs have developed, as well as the corresponding objective of
entrepreneurship education. These skills and attitudes include:
1. Positive attitudes, high aptitude for rational critical thinking and timely
decision making.
2. Clear vision, generation of progressive ideals, drive and passion for
success.
3. Ability to convert vision in concrete reality.
4. Creativity, innovativeness, courageousness and self-confidence.
5. Ability to assume reasonable risk.
6. Mercurial ingenuity, resourcefulness, patience and/or opportunities
insight.
7. Confidence and good judgement, which involves taking decisions and
making choices.
8. Prudence, which means due care in the management of resources
especially financial.
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
161
9. Willingness to learn and develop a disposition to pick-up, store
knowledge and use it.
10. Hard work an indispensable ingredient of success in business and other
sectors.
MODE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING
According to Okello-Obura and Matovu (2011), the growth of any enterprise
among other things; depends on the entrepreneurial spirit, the qualifications of its
owner, quality provision of information, knowledge, skills as well as advice on
the various aspects of the business.
However, programmes to prepare for entrepreneurship training to support small
business have become subjects of further education and training. Therefore, such
further education needs to focus on filling the literacy gaps of drop-outs or even
the unschooled. The students are thus equipped with necessary skills to become a
successful entrepreneur. The efforts of the Federal Government towards
entrepreneurship can be seen in the establishment of the following skills-specific
enterprises (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004):
• National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
• Industrial Attachment or Student Industrial Working Experience Scheme
(SIWES).
• Vocational and technical training.
• Agricultural training.
• Information and Communication Technology Training (ICT training).
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) for instance was Nigeria’s
response to the need for entrepreneurship training of school youths towards
solving the problem of unemployment. This nation-wide directorate set up by the
federal government led to the establishment of the national director of
employment which was set up to work out and implement strategies aimed at
solving the problems of mass unemployment in Nigeria. On the other hand, the
Industrial Attachment or Student Industrial Working Experience Scheme
(SIWES) was established to boost the practical and entrepreneurship skills of
undergraduate students of science-related discipline.
Vocational and Technical Training as entrenched in the Nigeria National Policy
on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004), refers to those aspects of the
educational process involving (in addition to general education), the study of
technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes,
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
162
understanding and knowledge relating to occupation in various sectors of
economic and social life. These also have entrepreneurship focus.
With respect to Agricultural Training, the primary focus is the cultivation of land,
raising and rearing of animals for the purpose of production of food for man, feed
for animals and raw materials for industries. It also involves cropping, livestock,
forestry, fishing processing and marketing of agricultural products. There is no
doubt that the preceding programmes provide students with entrepreneurship
training.
ICT Training is currently one of the Nigerian government’s drives to popularise
and practicalise entrepreneurship training of our teeming youths and especially
graduates of higher institutions. ICT deals with the use of electronic computers
and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and secure
redundant information. Today, ICT has ballooned to encompass many aspects of
computing and technology. It has opened opportunities for our young graduates
to become entrepreneurs.
CHALLENGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN NIGERIAN
UNIVERSITIES
Within the framework of the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 2004), the primary goals of university education in Nigeria are to:
a. Contribute to national development through high level relevant
manpower training;
b. Develop the intellectual proper values for the survival of the individual
and society;
c. Develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and
appreciate their local and external environments;
d. Acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will enable
individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society;
e. Promote and encourage scholarship and community service;
f. Forge and cement national unity; and
g. Promote national and international understanding and interaction.
Items a, b, and d of the preceding goals are specific to development of
entrepreneurship skills among undergraduates. The efforts of the National
Universities Commission (NUC) and Industrial Training Fund (ITF) in this
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
163
regard are a formidable driving force for entrepreneurship education. University
education is under extreme pressure to explicitly prove to society that it can make
effective and efficient usage of their resources and that their activities bear
relevance to the employment market, aspects only really achievable through
modern management acting in accordance with the prevailing environment
(Hintea, Ringsmith, & Mora, 2006). This is the area universities have to
demonstrate entrepreneurship capabilities in their programmes so that their
graduates would largely become job creators and not job seekers.
Unfortunately, several challenges currently face Nigerian universities in their bid
to properly entrench entrepreneurship education as important curriculum issue
across all disciplines. According to Amoor (2008), these challenges include:
1. Lack of lecturers with practical entrepreneurial training and
consciousness. Although lecturers’ awareness of entrepreneurship
education has grown in the last five years and attitudes towards the new
curriculum has become more positive, majority of lecturers still do not
know enough the aims, contents and work method of entrepreneurship
education. Consequently, they may unable to effectively impart the
desired knowledge and entrepreneurial skills to their students.
2. The task of drawing up course content to be included in the curriculum of
entrepreneurship-related education programme in Nigerian universities
will require a very long educational process (Blenker, Dreisler,
Færgemann, & Kjeldsen, 2008).
3. Entrepreneurship education is capital intensive and both lecturers and
students need money to practice the theory of initiating, establishing and
running enterprises. This undoubtedly constitute constraints which
subsequently frustrate the integration of the entrepreneurship in academic
programmes in Nigerian universities.
Brown (2012) highlighted nine basic factors that hinder entrepreneurship
education in our universities in Nigeria. These are poor knowledge based
economy and low spirit of competition; poor enterprising culture; lack of
entrepreneurship teachers, materials and equipment; unavailability of relevant
funds; non-inclusion of entrepreneurship program in the general school curricula;
poor societal attitude to technical and vocational education development;
inadequate facilities and equipment for teaching and learning in practical-related
courses; insensitivity of government to enterprise creation and expansion
strategy; and poor planning and execution of processes of action. However, one
can state categorically that several of these factors are gradually being tackled by
the Federal Government of Nigeria under its relevant agencies.
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
164
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN THE TRANSFORMATION
AGENDA OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Nigeria’s development efforts have over the years been characterised by lack of
continuity, consistency and commitment (3Cs) to agreed policies, programmes
and projects as well as an absence of a long-term perspective. The culminating
effect has been growth and development of the Nigerian Economy without a
concomitant improvement in the overall welfare of Nigerian citizens and, what
one can refer to as motion without movement. Such a situation has led to massive
unemployment, poverty and even insecurity of lives and properties.
The Nigerian government recently responded to this need in a programme termed
“Transformation Agenda” (Sofoluwe, Akinsolu & Kayode, 2013, p. 215). The
agenda covers a four year period of 2011 – 2015 and is based on a set of priority
policies and programmes which when implemented could transform the Nigerian
Economy to meet the future needs of the citizenry. Specifically, the agenda
covers issues such as macroeconomic framework and economic direction,
governance, sector priority policies as well as programmes and projects of the
following key thematic areas: (i) Real sector, (ii) Infrastructure, (iii) Human
Capital, (iv) Enablers (which include private investment, finance mobilization,
external economic relations and diplomacy, etc.) and (v) Monitoring and
Evaluation (Federal Republic of Nigeria , 2011).
There is ample evidence to suggest that the Nigerian economy is experiencing
growth without employment. This is more so now that the rate of growth of the
labour force exceeds the employment opportunities that are being created. The
unemployed population as at present is as usual dominated by youths who are
mostly school leavers of secondary schools and graduates of tertiary institutions.
For instance, composite employment data shows that by January 2010, the rate of
unemployment had surged from 11.9% in 2006 to 14.6% in 2007 and 21.1% by
January 2010 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2011). Deliberate measures are
currently being put in place to reinvigorate various sectors of the economy and
thus enhance employment opportunities for the large number of youths which
include:
i. Implementation of youth employment safety schemes, development of
industrial clusters.
ii. Reviewing university curricula so as to align with industry job
requirements and promotion of apprenticeship/work experience
programmes or joint ventures.
iii. Enforcement of mandatory sub-contracting and partnering with locals
by foreign construction companies.
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
165
iv. Implementation of mandatory skills transfer to Nigerians by foreign
construction companies.
These are all specific actions being undertaken in ensuring the culture of
entrepreneurship education in our system. In order to implement entrepreneurship
education, the government through the NUC inaugurates a committee towards
developing entrepreneurship education curriculum which is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Entrepreneurship education in the transformation agenda in Nigeria
S/No Module Student’s Expectation
1
Business creation
and growth
• explain the concept of business planning process
• Understand contents and reasons for a business plan
• List some factors that motivate people to begin new
businesses
• Search for and identify business opportunities
• Understand the required legal formalities for a business
start up
• Prepare a feasibility analysis report
• State the relationship between a feasibility analysis and
a business plan
• List formal and informal sources of capital for new
ventures
• Know how to and be interested in starting a small
business of their own
2
Issues of business
growth
• Understood the concept of business growth
• Explored the strategies for growth (franchising, buy in
and buy out)
• Examined merger and acquisitions
• Discussed the challenges of growth
•
Learnt critical success factors for growing venture
3
Sources of funds
• Discussed the sources of funds for new and
entrepreneurial ventures
•
Understood the importance of formal and informal
sources of funds for new ventures
• Explored the concept, method, and types of finances
provided by venture capital
• Discussed the various government initiatives in funding
new ventures and small and medium enterprises in
Nigeria
(Continue on next page)
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
166
Table 1. (Continued)
S/No Module Student’s Expectation
4
Entrepreneurial
marketing
• Understood the concept of small marketing and how it
aids the development and growth of small businesses
• Learnt the major differences between small business
marketing and marketing for large organizations
•
Understood the pillars upon which marketing rests
(marketing mix) and how they are deployed in new
ventures
• Learnt the importance of developing a unique selling
proposition and how it helps to endear customers to the
products and services of new firms
• Understood the concept of International marketing and
its dynamics
5
New
opportunities for
expansion
(e-business)
• Describe E-Commerce, E-business and related
technologies
• Define e-Commerce and describe how it differs from e-
Business
• Describe the major types of e-Commerce/e-Business
• Discuss in a practical way the application of these
techniques in real business
• Determine the requirement (hardware and software) for
a small e-Commerce web site,
• Identify unique features and business significance of e-
Commerce technology
• Examine the challenges and prospect of e-Commerce in
Nigeria
6
Ethics and social
responsibility
• Understood the concepts of business ethics and social
responsibility
• Learnt the ethical principles for entrepreneurs
• Understood the importance of ethics in business
• Discussed the application of the above concepts to the
operations and success of ventures
• Discussed
social responsibility among business
organizations in Nigeria
Source: Draft copy of general entrepreneurship courses in universities edited by Sagagi, Anyanwu,
Aliu & Abimbola (2012).
Human Capital Development is strategic to the socio-economic development of
any nation and such includes education, health, labour and employment and
women affairs. Investing in human capital development is critical since such
actions would help to ensure that there are adequate productive skills for national
growth and development. It is even in the implementation plan of the National
Action Plan on Employment Creation (NAPEC) to create 5 million new jobs
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
167
annually within the next three years (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2011). One
way to achieve this is the establishment of several Skills Acquisition Centres
across the country.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION AS A TOOL FOR NATIONAL
TRANSFORMATION
There is no doubt that several nations in the world are currently experiencing
economic meltdown, hiccups or crisis. Nigeria has not been spared of this global
malaise even though the country’s situation is not as precarious as others
especially in Europe and in the America; there is still an increasing rate of
unemployment and poverty. The directives of the Nigerian government through
the NUC to integrate entrepreneurship courses into the curriculum of Nigerian
universities is a right call and at the right time since entrepreneurship education
will provide additional skills, resources, and methodologies to graduates to
further transform their ideas into visible and viable businesses after graduating
from the university. If this is rightly done, the graduates would not need to queue
up in the labour market for paid employment but rather create jobs for themselves
and others. This will go a long way to reduce poverty in the society and
unemployment in the labour market (Amoor, 2008). It is a well-known fact that,
Entrepreneurship constitutes a vital engine for economic, social, practical and all
round development of any country. It has been identified by many; both globally
and nationally; as a tool for a sustainable, virile and stable economy. No wonder
successive governments in Nigeria have attempted to strengthen relevant
agencies in order to achieve this position. The present government has put in
more and better effort through its transformation agenda.
Entrepreneurship Education is made up of all kinds of experiences that give
students the ability and vision of accessing and transforming opportunities of
different kinds. It goes beyond business creation. It is about increasing students’
ability to anticipate and respond to societal changes. Besides, it is the type of
education that seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills and
motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of settings. It thus
empowers students to develop and use their innate creative skills to take
initiatives, responsibility and risks.
According to Guerrero and Urbano (2012), an environment where knowledge-
based entrepreneurship transpire as a driving force towards job creation,
economic growth as well as competitiveness is referred to as an entrepreneurial
society. Therefore, entrepreneurial universities play a vital role as both a
disseminating institution and a knowledge-producer.
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
168
Figure 1. Towards a successful entrepreneur
Source: Adopted from OECD (2009)
Therefore, the following are the expected roles to be played by entrepreneurship
education towards national transformation when properly and actively
implemented:
i. Training and learning centres: Entrepreneurship education will serves as
learning and training centres for the translation of dreams and ideas into
successful ventures. As shown in table 1, it will help the students to
discover and think entrepreneurial. This will help them to discover their
potentials and work towards achieving it and by so doing; it will reduce
over reliance on white collar job.
ii. Facilitates the identification, creation and utilisation of non-existent
saving: with the training received by the students, it will expose those to
how they can identify, create and utilise capital. The course will expose
them to how they can write a good feasibility study and win a grant for
starting up a business. According to Erwart (2012), entrepreneurship
education builds skills such as managerial, human, technical, conceptual
skills in the individuals by teaching and allowing them to start businesses
with little or no money for themselves.
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
169
iii. Self-fulfillment for the entrepreneur: entrepreneurship education brings
about self-fulfillment to the recipient when he has really discovered the
strength, weakness, opportunities and treats in a business.
iv. Create a balance in rural-urban migration: if entrepreneurship education is
implemented in the university system in Nigeria, a lot of student who
travel to urban area for search for job will be reduced and the rural area
will also develop and more jobs will be created as well. This tends to
alleviate and eradicate poverty as well as improving the general security
(Danko, 2005).
v. Creates employment. Research has shown that 70% of the entire work
force is employed by entrepreneurial ventures and hence, rate of
unemployment is greatly reduced (UN, 2010).
vi. Mobilises resources that ordinarily would have remained idle in the hands
of people and employ them productively and by doing so, capital
formulation is encouraged.
vii. Links up the various sectors of the economy and constitute the market for
agricultural extractive and industrial output as well as providing source of
material and labour input for big industries.
Entrepreneurship activity generates wealth, and thereby increases the extent of
the market and thus brings about positive social changes in the citizenry. There is
also specialisation as entrepreneurs see and create niches through innovation.
More of entrepreneurship will undoubtedly create jobs, infrastructures necessary
for business development (e.g. roads, transport, communication, power supply,
education and health services).
When and if properly managed in Nigerian universities, entrepreneurship will
contribute to the nation’s economic growth and development. According to
Amoor (2008), it will help to discover talented, competitive, creative and very
skilful individuals that will be the nation’s innovative assets; prepare individual
student to be responsible and entrepreneurially conscious to contribute
significantly to economic growth and development; and build a connecting link
that creates productive and very thoughtful citizens that can contribute to local,
regional and national competitiveness. It will also encourage the university
graduates to establish small scale businesses and sustain them. Such small
businesses form the cornerstone of future economic growth, job creation and
wealth generation.
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
170
Figure 2. Entrepreneurship education for national transformation (a model
developed by the authors)
RECOMMENDATIONS
For entrepreneurship education in Nigerian Universities to be an instrument for
National transformation, the following recommendations are suggested:
1. Training, on a regular basis of all lecturers and instructors on
entrepreneurship education: lecturers should be recruited, trained and re-
trained in the area of entrepreneurship education. They should be
sponsored to attend local and international conferences to acquire more
knowledge so that they can effectively transfer entrepreneurial skills into
the students.
2. Provisions of access to adequate resources (including capital) to
graduating students to enable them start their own business.
3. The various university managements should contact some Non-
Governmental Organisations or banks to give soft loans/grants to
entrepreneurship educators to establish and run their own businesses.
This will enable them to acquire practical experience from their own
initiatives for onward transmission to the students.
4. As we are in technological era, students should be thoroughly taught how
to troubleshoot, service, maintain computer and other related office
equipment. They should also be provided with adequate information
about starting a new business and about business trends in order to
minimise future risks and maximise success rates. This will help them to
Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities
171
establish consultancy firms to sell and service the computers and other
office related equipment, and also run business centres.
5. Centre for entrepreneurship education should mandatorily be established
in every Nigerian university and should constantly organize workshops
for the students as well as invite successful businessmen and women to
give talk on how to initiate, source for funds, start and run a business
successfully.
6. Undergraduate students should be mandated to go for internship with a
successful entrepreneur for at least a period of two months. This will
also help them to practically acquire entrepreneurial skills that will
enable them initiate, establish and run their businesses after graduation.
The internship training may not necessarily be a full two months but 8–
10 hours in a week.
7. Provision of appropriate instruction materials and local infrastructure and
support services to ensure relevance to the Nigerian situation.
CONCLUSION
During the last three decades entrepreneurship has globally strengthened its
position in higher education and research (Kyro & Ristimaki, 2008). Gibb (2005)
had argued that a lot of changes have contributed effectively to making a world
of much greater uncertainty and complexity, one demanding entrepreneurial and
enterprising behaviour at all levels be it global, societal, organisational and
individual. The urgent need to embrace entrepreneurship is also recognised by
politicians, academics and educators in the European Union and beyond.
The future of the Nigerian economy depends on a new generation of
entrepreneurs that would have to come up with ideas and resolve to make them a
reality as well as having the vision to create wealth and jobs. For this to be
achieved there is the need for a cultural change in Nigeria. Entrepreneurship
education is needed in Nigeria economy to create jobs, reduce unemployment,
crime, government’s expenditure, poverty, social unrest, create wealth and raise
the standard of living in the country.
However, in order to make Nigeria the leading entrepreneurial nation in Africa;
there is need to back our entrepreneurs by investing in enterprise education and
by celebrating the role that entrepreneurs play in creating a dynamic and growing
economy.
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare and David Jimoh Kayode
172
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