Entrepreneurship Education and the need to Restructure Nigeria’s Education Curricular.

Entrepreneurship is crucial to national development. All over the world entrepreneurship has been recognized as a strong force in the battle for economic transformation. In all ages entrepreneurship has been responsible for pulling out most economies from the doldrums.

Entrepreneurship education provides the required manpower that can generate new economic development. It enables the identification and evaluation of economic opportunities, resources availability and plan implementation. The development of conscientious entrepreneurial class will provide the necessary link between biochemical products of the new technologically based human capital development and the value-addition achieved by processing these products within the framework of a competitive international market. This seems the only basis for breaking the dependence on oil as the major export and opportunity to explore and exploit other viable resources in less volatile regions. The drive in this direction will help to achieve the necessary diversification of the Nigerian economy if only our leaders can open their eyes to globalization and what 21^st century have in offer for this generation.

Until recently, the quality of Nigerian education has been more literary and academic, lacking practical and professional skills. Many beneficiaries of such education, except in government and some private establishments, find it difficult to be self-employed. Entrepreneurship education will, therefore, bring out the individual’s talents and empower the graduate of this education system to take their destiny in their own hands by creatively identifying and tapping opportunities within their environment. Entrepreneurship education, therefore, has the capacity to transform our educated youths from job seekers to job creators, thereby reducing the alarming rate of unemployment in the country.

However, this feat cannot be achieved unless there is cohesion in the system. There must be new orientation and inculcation of new value system that will make the individual appreciates the need for quality education and practical training.

A friend once demonstrated to me how the university curriculum was designed to impoverish students after graduation. He argued that graduates are never thought beyond the classroom and as such find it difficult to find their depth after school, he even went further to give examples of those who graduated before and after a set in the university and how they have spent years in search of jobs. If this is to be addressed, the ministry of education in collaboration with other civil agencies whose statuary responsibility it is to formulate, implement and evaluate relevant policies in the sector. The indices for measuring a nations level of development among others is how educated her citizenry are and even the quality of education they receive.