Entrepreneurship And Economic Growth In Nigeria (1972-2013)

Governments in Nigeria since 1972 have formulated and implemented some pro-entrepreneurship policies in the country with a view to fostering economic growth and possibly development. Given the current unimpressive performance of the economy, one wonders whether these policies have had the intended effects on it. This paper therefore sought to identify and examine the growth-influencing entrepreneurship variables that these policies may have overlooked. Secondary data were collected on five entrepreneurship variables in the economy. These variables are: Real Foreign Direct Investment, Real Gross Fixed Capital Formation, Real Research and Development Expenditures, Patent Intensity and Contract Intensive Money. The results of the OLS regression carried out showed that of all the variables only Patent Intensity impacted negatively on economic growth in Nigeria. The study therefore concluded that the entrepreneurship variables that are growth-influencing such as Real Gross Capital Formation and Real Research and Development Expenditures should be those that future entrepreneurship policies should target for better outcomes. The study recommended, inter-alia, that governments should encourage process and product development by supporting private sector research and development (R&D) efforts and for an improvement of the nation’s patent intensity, more technical and technology-based courses should be introduced into the curricula of the nation’s institutions of learning so that the patented technology embodied in capital used domestically is sourced from within.