ENTREPRENUERSHIP EDUCATION AS A THERAPY IN A DISTRESSED ECONOMY.

        ENTREPRENUERSHIP EDUCATION AS A THERAPY IN A DISTRESSED ECONOMY.

                                                               BY

                                                        Raheem Shefiu

                                        Email: bestraheems@yahoo.com.

                        CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENUERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, CED,

                       YABA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, YABA, LAGOS, NIGERIA.

                                                               ABSTRACT.

Nigeria’s economy is sick. It urgently needs an entrepreneurial therapeutic healing. This can only be achieved through entrepreneurship education. Most of what you hear about entrepreneurship is all wrong. It’s not magic; it’s not mysterious; and it has nothing to do with genes. It’s a discipline and, like any discipline, it can be learned.Preparing today’s students for success and eventual leadership in the new global marketplace is the most important responsibility in education today… Entrepreneurship education is an important tool to achieving these objectives [and]…should be universally available to provide all students with opportunities to explore and fulfill their potential.

Entrepreneurship education is critical for developing entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviours that are the basis for economic growth. It can be a societal change agent, a great enabler in all sectors.of the nation’s economy.

The Global objectives of entrepreneurship education include among others:

1) To highlight and raise awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship education in   spurring economic growth and achieving the Millennium Development Goals

2)  To consolidate existing knowledge and good practices in entrepreneurship education around the world to enable the development of innovative new tools, approaches and delivery methods

.  Entrepreneurship education provides a mix of experiential learning, skill building and, most importantly, mindset shift. Certainly, the earlier and more widespread the exposure to entrepreneurship and innovation, the more likely students will become entrepreneurial, in one form or another, at some stage in their lives..

Evidently, Nigeria is lagging behind in preparing her workforce for the challenges of the rapidly changing global economy. It is concluded that improved and sustainable global economy development depends on a strong entrepreneurship education.

This paper examines entrepreneurship education as a tool that could be employed and deployed in proffering solution(s) the country’s economic, social and political problems.

KEYWORDS: ENTREPRENUERSHIP; ENTREPRENUERSHIP EDUCATION; YOUTH EMPOWERMENT;JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.