Entrepreneurial Strategy for Self-Employment and Mitigating Unemployment: Case Study of Yobe State University Centre for Entrepreneurship Development

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is one of the drivers of the economy in Nigeria. Youth idleness is a major threat to the peace of the region and Nigeria at large. In the current state of the economy and unemployment rate in Nigeria, there is need for entrepreneurship development particular small scale business to provide youth empowerment. According to Osibanjo 2020 [1] unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to about 33.6% or 39.4 million by end of the year of 2020, if the country fail to take prompt pre-emptive measures reaching an all-time high. This study seeks to examine the strategy of entrepreneurship skills acquisition in mitigating the scour for government employment by younger generation at university level and the strategy of University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Development adopting towards preparing students/graduates for self-employment and productivity in Nigeria. To examine this, a structured interview/questionnaire method was used to collect data from directorate staff, facilitators, tutors, and students who are in the skill acquisition programmes and those who had participated in the programme. These programmes include but not limited to: Baking, sewing, cosmetics, fisheries, tailoring, etc. based on the data collected and analysed, it affirms that the University’s Centre is preparing students towards self-reliance and employment this was obvious from the result found through interviewing of randomly selected students of different skill acquisition programmes. In addition, students are allowed to choose any skill that might be is potential to them. It was also, found that, some of these choose was based on field of specialization (Course of Study) while other was on the foundation of background (locality) of the trainees. Therefore, Yobe State University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Development operates within the mandate of its establishment, constantly review and improve its strategy of skills acquisition, provide conductive atmosphere for learning and, it is yielding a good result as such mitigates youth unemployment and bring self-reliance. Entrepreneurs who fail to manage growth and sustainability is often have limited time and resources to spend on organization development or they are pursuing many opportunities, allowing little effort and time for planning and controlling.