Entrepreneurship Development Programmes and the Challenge of Building Entrepreneurial Capacity of Youth in Kano State, Nigeria

Increasing attention is being placed in policy and research circles on the position of younger generations. High levels of unemployment and limited skills among some groups of young people have partly fuelled this interest; with entrepreneurship development seen as having the prospects of building the capacity of individuals to develop innovative and creative attitude, thereby combating the problem of limited skills by youth and tackling the global unemployment challenge. Data for the study was extracted through the administration of set of questionnaire checklists on representative sample of the population. A linear probability modeling technique (logistic regression) was used to predict if EDP is a predictor determining the propensity for youth to develop entrepreneurial attitude in Kano state, Nigeria during the period 2008 to 2012. The regression results revealed that EDPs training did not make a significant contribution to the prediction. Using 5 per cent (0.05) level of significance, any variable with p-value of greater than 0.05 is said to be not a significant predictor in the model. Based on this, the Wald criterion demonstrated that training, which has a p-value of 0.427, is not a significant contributor to the prediction. The study found that emphasis of EDPs training has always been on programmes that aim at providing opportunities for work rather than on programmes that can develop and stimulate individual motives and attitude to work. The literature in the study indicated that any attempt by the government and other stakeholders to stimulate entrepreneurial attitude of youth should first, change the thinking and mindset of the youth. The literature also indicated that the phenomenon of limited skills by youth is so complex that no government or sector has been able to eradicate it completely. Therefore, the study recommends that relevant stakeholders such as private and non-governmental organizations should be involved in the design and implementation of Entrepreneurship programmes. Collaborative effort between the governments, private and non-profit organizations and other key players is necessary to spur entrepreneurial ecosystem in providing entrepreneurship skills, attitudes and competences needed by the youth.