Entrepreneurial Skills’ Acquisition and Employment Generation among Polytechnic Graduates in South West, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates effectiveness of entrepreneurial skills acquisition as a tool for employment generation among polytechnic graduates in Nigeria. The study seeks to determine the stance of higher education and entrepreneurial skills acquisition in employment generation. The variables of interest are job orientation, job creation and self-employment; and its associated self-reliance, job satisfaction on employment generation. A descriptive design was adopted with a multi-stage sampling technique in selecting a sample size of 647 ‘Batch B stream2’ Corp members from public polytechnics in Southwest, Nigeria. A multiple regression inferential statistics was applied in data analysis. The findings established that the state of higher education in entrepreneurship have no significant effect on employment generation. However, in Nigeria, other findings revealed that entrepreneurial skills acquisition increases job orientation, job creation and self-employment. It is therefore obvious that entrepreneurial skills’ acquisition can lead to self-employment if strategically positioned.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship development, Skills acquisition, Strategic tool, Employment generation.