Entrepreneurship Development Programmes in Nigeria

Abstract

GRACE T. FATUNLA is a senior lecturer in economics and head of the General Studies Unit at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. This paper discusses the several entrepreneurship development programmes which Nigeria has recently adopted as its main strategy for combatting her unemployment problem. In particular, it focusses on the activities and various programmes of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), analyses in detail its operations, achievements and constraints, and finally makes suggestions for the future improvement of the programmes. The oil boom of the 1 970s led to expansion of educational programmes but without corresponding increases in job opportunities. Consequently there was an explosion of unemployed youths and graduates, worsened by the mass retrenchment of workers brought about by the contraction of the civil service necessitated by the recession in the oil market. Unemployment among school leavers and graduates reached alarming proportions in 1985-86. The federal govemment as well as several state govemments launched entrepeneurship development programmes. In particular, the main organ of the federal government, the NDE, made a notable impact in 1987.