The Federal Government through the National Board for Technical Education has reviewed the curriculum for polytechnics across the country, introducing entrepreneurial courses to address the nation’s unemployment challenge.
“The future of Nigerian youths is not in paper qualification but the ability to become a worthwhile entrepreneur,” the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said at a workshop for academics in polytechnics and other technical institutions across the country in Abuja on Wednesday.
He emphasized that entrepreneurship plays a critical role in the ability of graduates to either be employed or independent, hence the need to take entrepreneurship development seriously.
He added “The curriculum for teaching entrepreneurship courses in our institutions was reviewed last year, and this year, we are carrying out this workshop on how to deliver these courses. Not only that, but books are also being developed which will now be impacted on our students through the lecturers.”
He further explained, “There are differences between entrepreneurship programmes and skills development programmes. In entrepreneurship, we learn about how to run and start a business, while in skills development, you acquire a skill which is very necessary.
“Entrepreneurship is the key to graduates’ employability so that they can use the skills they acquire to create jobs themselves and employ others, rather than become job seekers.”
The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono, commended the committee of rectors for reviewing the curriculum to focus on entrepreneurship education.
He said, “We want to commend the committee of rectors for coming up with the review of curriculum that focuses on how entrepreneurship should be taught and practiced.
“Entrepreneurship education goes beyond just having an enterprise or small business; it goes into critical thinking, risk-taking, identification of opportunities, using skill sets, and resources and creating values that promote employment. It is the only way we can address unemployment in our country and grow the sector. So we have the key to making the country change.”
