Pages: (107-119 )
Abstract
Entrepreneurship is ‘an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action. It includes creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives. This study therefore examined the impact of entrepreneurial education on unemployment among Nigerian graduates serving in Lagos State. This study adopted the survey research design. A sample size of 250 youth corpers was selected through the simple random sampling technique from the population of youth corpers in Lagos State, Nigeria. Data were collected using Demographic Data Inventory (DDI) and “Reducing Unemployment among Nigerian Graduates through Entrepreneurial Education Questionnaire” (RUNGEEQ). Demographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency distributions and percentages) and hypotheses were tested by means of the simple linear regression analysis at the .05 level of significance. Findings revealed that entrepreneurship skills training curriculum contents have no significant impact on critical thinking and business idea generation (β = .074, t = 1.492, p > .05), and entrepreneurship pedagogy significantly affects graduate shared-vision and identification of business opportunities among youth corpers (β = .214, t = 9.052, p < .05) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It was recommended, among others, that policy makers, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), universities, and other stakeholders in Nigeria should design and integrate a general entrepreneurship curriculum into all their programmes and activities.
Keywords: Entrepreneurial skill training, pedagogy, critical thinking and business idea,