Impact of entrepreneurship education on youth unemployment: A Case of Ummaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic Sokoto, Nigeria

Educational orientation of youths in Nigeria is white-collar job directed, which is one of the factors responsible for the youth unemployment in the country, because the educational system itself fails to empower the ones passing through it. To solve the problem of unemployment in this situation, there is need to reorient the youths to think of job creation away from the mindset of job seekers, by inculcating entrepreneurship skill into the youths and building their interests towards entrepreneurship, especially while they are still in school. The study examined the strength of entrepreneurship education on impacting the right skills and attitudes to students and determined the extent to which students exposed to entrepreneurial education are willing to undertake the establishment of their own enterprises. The methodology adopted was based on Descriptive survey design which relied on primary and secondary sources of gathering data, through the use of structured questionnaires. Two hundred (200) questionnaires were administered, and one hundred and fifty four (154) were returned. The study adopted simple random sampling technique. The data was analyzed and Presented using Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) and chi-square was adopted to analyze data. The study shows that entrepreneurial education in Ummaru Ali Shinkafi polytechnic is effective in imparting entrepreneurial skills and attitudes to students as well as building their interests towards establishing their own businesses.The study recommends that tertiary institutions, government, parents and the international donors supporting higher education projects must work together to create an ecosystem of support including training, mentorship, and access to finance Start -up Capital should be provided through micro-finance banks and other specialized agencies to adequately empower young entrepreneurs. There is an urgent need for the government to provide an enabling environment in the forms of efficient and available basic infrastructural facilities.