The African Kids and Women Rights (AKAWI) has called for the teaching of entrepreneurship from the basic school level in Nigeria.
Executive Director of AKAWI, Sherina Okoye, disclosed this during the organisation’s empowerment and award ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Okoye said teaching young minds life saving skills through entrepreneurship in basic school curriculum will reduce the number of unemployed Nigerians.
Development Diaries understands that Nigeria’s unemployment rate, as at 2020 second quarter, stood at 27.1 percent, up from the 23.1 percent recorded in 2018, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Unemployment among young people aged between 15 and 34 stood at 34.9 percent, while 28.7 percent were underemployed.
Also, available statistics shows that about 87 million Nigerians, or half the population, live on less than US$1.90 per day.
Nigeria’s growing population and government’s underperformance continue to pose serious threats to the nation’s socio-economic growth as over 500,000 graduates, mostly without any form of entrepreneurial skill, annually move into an already competitive labour market, leaving many without any form of employment for long periods.
According to Okoye, the lack of entrepreneurship studies from the basic level of education in Nigeria is partly responsible for this growing trend which continuously leads to high rate of unemployment.
Okoye, who referenced China’s growing economy, said equipping children and young adults with entrepreneurial skills from an early age will help build their capacity.
‘There is the need to quickly review the Nigerian school curriculum and adding entrepreneurship studies right from the basic level’, she said.
‘There is a need to catch them young.
‘We keep saying there are no jobs and there is poverty, but it is as a result of the fact that many are endowed with talents but are bereft of ideas which will translate those talents into money-making ventures.
‘We rely on too much of certificates in this country and less on business ideas, this is why we are where we are.
‘Take China, for example, they emphasise so little on certificates and lay emphasis on grooming talents and bringing out the best from it’.
Source: ThisDay
Photo source: World Bank
