ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD.

 

Unemployment has been identified as a major challenge in Nigeria. Reports have shown that there is unemployment in the country more especially among youths. This no doubt breeds all sorts of social malice and crimes in the society. The culture of making every youth to be self-reliant, self-employed and employer of labour is strengthening entrepreneurship trainings to enhance skill acquisition and capacity building in the school curriculum.

The purpose of this article therefore, is to draw the attention of the policy makers on the need to strengthen entrepreneurship training to enhance skills acquisition and capacity building in Basic Education for sustainable livelihood and self-reliance in Nigeria.

 

Skill acquisition is the ability to be trained on a particular task or function in order to become expert on it. It is a means of making the youths in Nigeria self-reliant as it helps to curb unemployment among youths. Uduak Ekong and Christian Ekong (2016) citing Ogundele, Akingbade and Akinlabi agree that skill acquisition and entrepreneurship in schools in the past reduced poverty among youths. This was when handwork or craft was introduced as a subject in primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. It was evident in those days, that skill acquisition and entrepreneurship trainings contributed a lot to the economic upliftment of the students and adults by making them self-reliant. Realizing the benefits of hand work among students  then, skill acquisition was introduced on a more mechanized and modernized level. This no doubt led to the reduction of poverty among youths who participated in the skill acquisition programs.

Entrepreneurship on the other hand, is interdisciplinary training that focus on the tools needed to start a new business or vocation. As Nigeria is predominantly made up of employed youths, it therefore requires strengthening entrepreneurship trainings among the youths from Basic Education in technical and vocational education to encourage self-reliance. 

 

This can be achieved by allowing local artisans to have their shops located at the vicinity of the school. School time-table would be made in such a way that students can shuttle between their classrooms and the nearby artisan workshops to have their practical regularly and during the holidays.

Other strategies are as follows:

i.             Emphasis on the teaching and learning of skills acquisition and capacity building in schools.

ii.            Establishing and equipping available technical and vocational workshops in schools.

iii.           Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to fund the establishment, equipment and renovate the existing dilapidated workshops and equipment.

iv.          Conduct of capacity building for teachers on judicious utilization of the workshops. 

 

It cannot be overemphasized that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is very critical for promoting sustainable development according to UNESCO 2015. ESD is therefore an education that allows every human being to acquire knowledge, skill, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. A call for sustainability and self-reliance entails the principle of strengthening entrepreneurship in basic formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values and skills needed for a sustainable way of life and achievement of education 20230 agenda.