Management of Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Higher Institutions: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward

Transcription

1 Management of Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Higher Institutions: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward By * Gabadeen, W. O. and **Raimi, L. * Department of Educational Management, University of Abuja, FCT Abuja **Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), Yaba College of Technology, Lagos awgabadeen@yahoo.com Abstract This paper investigates the management of entrepreneurship education in Nigerian higher institutions with special focus on the issues, challenges and way forward. The methodology adopted in the paper is the narrative-textual case study (NTCS); a research method that sources the required academic materials, both qualitative and quantitative, from the internet, online databases, e-libraries et cetera. This paper focuses on historical overview of entrepreneurship in the pre-independent Nigeria vis-à-vis the issues surrounding the inclusion of entrepreneurship education into the curricula of Nigerian higher institutions, the undercurrent challenges facing management of entrepreneurship education in Nigeria and pragmatic prescriptions on the way forward with emphasis on the need for attitudinal change on the part of stakeholders (the policy & decision-makers, the planners & designers of curriculum, the management & teaching staff, the parents & learners), provision of standard instructional and infrastructural facilities, efficient curriculum planning & implementation, adequacy of qualified manpower, effective and efficient funding strategy, and a well robust pedagogy for sustainable Entrepreneurship education in Nigerian tertiary institutions Introduction Informal entrepreneurship otherwise called traditional entrepreneurship in pre-independent Nigeria started when the various ethnic nationalities imbibe the enterprising attitude of self employment and self-sufficiency through active involvement in artisanship, crafts and farming. That exploit culminated in the physical production of more goods than the communities actually needed for basic sustenance; as such they resorted to exchange of their surplus products with those who required them within their immediate and distant neighbouring communities (Nicks, 2008, Raimi, Shokunbi and Peluola, 2010). The process adopted for exchange of surplus goods and services was initially based on trade-by-barter, a system of exchanging goods for goods or services for goods. This system endued and was the acceptable business norm, until commodity money was developed and used as better and preferred medium of exchange (Alao, 2005). Exchange of surpluses (art works, cash crops, food crops et cetera) encouraged specialisation among producers, and the communities came to realize that they can concentrate on areas of production they are best fitted. Consequent on the above, the culture of entrepreneurship development started and blossomed (Nicks, 2008). The classical era of entrepreneurship discussed above, marked the beginning of economic development in all the local communities within the enclave that later became Nigeria. Entrepreneurship education is therefore not a new educational phenomenon in Nigeria, as wrongly opined by prejudiced scholars like Miranda Elizabeth. She opined that Nigeria does not 1

2 have a robust and detailed history when it comes to entrepreneurship development (Miranda, 2010). Whereas, before the advent of colonial administration and formal education, the Yoruba and Hausa ethnic groups were great entrepreneurs and small business owners, both in the pre and post independent Nigeria. The Ibo ethnic nationality is specifically recognized internationally for its culture of entrepreneurship and enterprise development (Dana, 1995). Entrepreneurship education therefore has always been with Nigerians; it is a culture and habit transferred from one generation to another and had flourished among the major ethnic groups in the country for long because there exists able-bodied men and women with right mind-set and willingness to be mobilised for communal projects and programmes through informal process of grooming, training, recruitment or on a free-will arrangement by community leaders and constituted authorities. Those mobilised through the informal medium for entrepreneurial activities comprises of skilled, unskilled, old, young, experienced and in-experienced individuals of various age grades, gender statuses and tribal affiliations. This entrepreneurial engagement is prevalent in Yorubaland in western Nigeria, Hausaland in the northern Nigeria and among the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria (Raimi, Shokunbi and Peluola, 2010). The entrepreneurship mind-set of ethnic nationalities in Nigeria was captured succinctly by Ananaba (1969, cited by Fajana 2000:19) thus: The economy of the various states which make-up modern Nigeria was basically a subsistence economy and customs had established the practice that people serve their parents, village heads and the community without remuneration. On a given day, people went and work for a particular individual. Through the day, the man they serve was responsible for their food and drink. On another day, the man returned the service and it went on until everybody in the group was served. The view of Ananaba, as quoted above, explains the enterprising nature of the Nigerian people prior to colonial administration and the system of formal education engendered in the country. It is therefore false to say that entrepreneurship education is recent and a modern phenomenon within the Nigerian context. It is apt to state therefore that the arrival of the colonial masters and their brand of formal education slowed down rather than developed Nigeria s entrepreneurial history. The colonial formal education destroyed Nigerians philosophy of selfemployment, independence, creativity and enterprise innovation. For many decades, formal education has been the preserve of the privilege few in the country, who had the rare opportunity of being absorbed into the civil service as public servants, because in those days, the Nigerian economy was large enough to absorb the educated into the prestigious white collar jobs. As such, the colonial education system destroyed the traits of self-reliance, self-employment, selfsufficiency and entrepreneurial skills of Nigerians; they thus became permanently dependent on the colonial masters (Nicks, 2008, Raimi et al., 2010). Another damaging factor that destroyed our beautiful entrepreneurial past was the refusal of expatriate (multinational) companies like United African Company (UAC) to utilize the services of local small business owners. This factor inhibited their growth, expansion and ability to acquire necessary skills and attitude to sustain the tradition of self-employment and independence. Consequently, many eventually small enterprises in Nigerian communities folded up and built up resentment against small businesses. These set of frustrated local business owners transferred their demoralizing attitude to other prospective entrepreneurs. As a result, the flow of entrepreneurship in the country was slowed down (Ibid). 2

3 From the historical account presented above, it is clear that the preference for paid employment and passion for white collar job by Nigerian youths is neurosis caused by the colonial formal education. This mind-set has eaten deep into the subconscious of Nigerian youths. The damage is so devastating that the rate of general unemployment has continued to increase in Nigeria from (NBS and CBN, 2011). Unemployment of graduates is particularly worrisome. Onuoha (2011) notes that the Nigerian university system provides education and training to graduates that do not meet the need of the labour market, there is obvious disconnect and mismatch between the expectations of the industry and products of the nation s higher institutions rendered many graduates of Nigerian higher institutions unemployable. The Federal Ministry of Education (FME) in a bid to redress the mismatch painted above thereby making graduates from Nigerian higher institutions job creators rather than perpetual job seekers, introduced entrepreneurship education into the curricula of the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education through their regulatory/supervisory agencies - National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE). Entrepreneurship education was officially introduced into the higher institutions curricula effective from 2007/2008 academic session (ILO, 2010). Support for entrepreneurship education since then has been massive and commendable; it is on record that the International Labour Organisation provided support to the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the introduction of Entrepreneurial Education and Vocational Education through technical assistance. This support has been extended to all Higher Education training institutions in Nigeria (ILO, 2010). The Nigerian Universities Commission conducted a lot of workshops geared toward creating awareness on the need for students to acquire entrepreneurial skills. The commission maintained international collaboration and had signed memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Science Foundation of United States of America, the British Council and a host of others for the purpose of promoting entrepreneurship culture (Uwani, 2011). The interest in entrepreneurship education is also evidenced in the increasing research on the subject, the increased number of courses in entrepreneurship, and the increased coverage by the electronic and print media of matters relating to small and medium scale enterprises (Raimi et. al, 2010). Entrepreneurship initiatives always pay off, wherever it is engendered. Attahir and Minet (2000) report that on account of increased entrepreneurial initiatives at various levels, the country experienced some degree of growth in the number of private firms. Purpose of the study: 1. To elucidate the policy thrust of entrepreneurship education from the point of view of the higher institutions curricular and literature. 2. To establish the economic link between entrepreneurship education and national development. 3. To identify the challenges of Managing Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Higher Institutions. 4. To recommend pragmatic solutions to the current challenges facing the management of entrepreneurship education in Nigerian higher institutions. 3

4 Conceptualization of Education and Entrepreneurship: There are two mutually reinforcing concepts that needs to be clarified to avoid ambiguity in applications in the paper, these are: education and entrepreneurship. Etymologically, the word education has its root from the Latin word educare which when translated means "to bring up" something or somebody. It is also closely associated with another word educere "to bring out", "bring forth what is within", "to bring out potential" and lastly ducere, "to lead" somebody or something (Etymonline.com, 2011). Education, when technically defined is the process of becoming critically aware of one s reality, essence and environment in a manner that leads to effective and positive action upon. If education must serve the society on the basis of the definition above, then it must produce people who carry much more than ordinary certificates. It must produce individuals, with normal and exceptional traits, with the right types of knowledge, with the abilities and attitudes to put their acquired skills to work for the good of the society at large (Oniye, 2004). On the basis of this definition, there had been informal education in pre-independent Nigeria as evidenced by the historical retrospection of entrepreneurship discussed above. Adoption of education as an instrument for the actualization of national development objectives has always been the policy thrust of the Federal Government of Nigeria in most of its economic development plans. The above assertion is supported by the policy guidance as stipulated in the National Policy on Education thus: education will continue to be highly rated in the national development plans, because education is the most important instrument of change, as any fundamental change in the intellectual social outlook of any society has to be preceded by an educational revolution (Federal Government of Nigeria, 1998). Education represents the backbone of successful developed nation. It is clear that rich, developed countries have more educated and skilled workers than developing nations, no developed nation could survive without educating its workforce, and in the contemporary knowledge age extra efforts need to be put into facilitative approach to learning as opposed to the tradition of teach and listen approach. Witte and Wolf (2003) opined that it is best to use a facilitative approach for teaching students. Japan and American have been sighted as pretty successful in technology and economic performance on account of massive investment in quality education systems. The agelong traditional education in vogue in Nigeria breeds graduates whose mindset is job-seeking as opposed to job-creation; they thus lack entrepreneurial traits like self-motivation, drive and innovation needed by the world of work and employers of labour. Entrepreneurship education is a learning process that requires from learners/students self direction and self management, unlike the traditional stereotype teaching. America and Japan education authorities had long identified the need to enrich their higher education system with special emphasis on skills and practical needs of the world of work and industries. Universities in America and Japan had long entrenched entrepreneurship education in the undergraduate curriculum; hence they turn-out graduates who possesses traits and competences like team spirit; leadership, problem solving and negotiation skills (Soskice, 1993). American education systems allow students to gain vocational and communicational skills early in life regardless of class, this imbibe in the students, the ability to relate easily with their 4

5 mangers after graduation and while working in business organisations (Soskice, 1993). The focus on skill acquisition from American and Japanese education system has contributed immensely to the impressive levels of their economic performances (Ibid). On the contrary, Nigerian education system produces graduates who are white-collar inclined; they want ready-made jobs rather than create self-employment (Towobola and Raimi, 2011). This white collar mind-set of the Nigerian graduates despite introduction of entrepreneurship education as a compulsory course has not changed considering the unemployment rate in Nigeria. The employment rates in Nigeria from range from 12.6% to 14.6%. Table 1.1 National Unemployment Rates, Nigeria Survey Period (Year) Composite (%) Source: National Bureau of Statistics & Central Bank of Nigeria, Obadan and Odusola (2000) noted that about 3 million fresh graduates enter the labour market: with only about 10 percent of them getting employment. Literature that explores entrepreneurship education in Nigeria is growing by the leap. It is therefore necessary to rely on eclectic materials from both developed and developing countries in order to have an insight into what really are the impact of entrepreneurship education on socioeconomic development of any nation. Chigunta (2002) observes that entrepreneurship has continued to receive increasing recognition as a source of job creation, empowerment and economic dynamism in a rapidly globalising world. Entrepreneurship education when properly inculcated could also be used to empower the unemployed and help people develop their latent talents. Discussions on the conceptualisation of entrepreneurship are traceable to authors such as Richard Cantillon, Jean Baptiste Say and Joseph Schumpeter; who attempted at different times to define entrepreneurship (Binks and Vale 1990, Phuc 2006, Kanothi, 2009). Binks and Vale (1990) specifically defined entrepreneurship as an unrehearsed combination of economic resources instigated by the uncertain prospect of temporary monopoly profit. It is also the process of increasing the supply of entrepreneurs or adding to the stock of existing small, medium and big enterprises available to a country by creating and promoting many capable entrepreneurs who can successfully run innovative enterprises, nurture them to growth and sustain them, with a view to achieving broad socio-economic development goals (Tijani-Alawiye, 2004). 5

6 View in another perspective, entrepreneurship entails the process of risk-taking, innovation, arbitrage and co-ordination of factors of production in the creation of a new products or services within the context of a community or enlarged economy (Acs and Storey 2004, Minniti and Lévesque 2008, Naudé 2007, Kanothi, 2009). From the perspective of Acs and Szerb (2007) entrepreneurship implies a process of tapping viable environmental opportunities accompanied by a deliberate decision to commercialize the tapped opportunities through the establishment of a new business venture. This notion of entrepreneurship is what Thornton (1999) described as the demand and supply perspectives of entrepreneurship discourse. Policy Thrust of Entrepreneurship Education in Nigeria: Entrepreneurship education became imperative in higher institutions in Nigeria because it offers a realistic approach to solving the endemic problem of unemployment. It has since been made a compulsory course for all undergraduate students in three levels of tertiary education irrespective of students areas of specialization. Yahya (2011:.para.2), the Director for Students Support Services Department of National Universities Commission posits that: The overall objective (of entrepreneurship education) is to continuously foster entrepreneurship culture amongst students and faculty with a view of not only educating them but to also support graduates of the system towards establishing and also maintaining sustainable business ventures, including but not limited to those arising from research. The National Universities Commission was given the presidential directives by the Ministry of Education to introduce entrepreneurship education into the curricula of Nigerian institutions of higher learning, in collaboration with two other supervisory agencies of higher institutions, that is, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) (Yahya, 2011). The role assigned to the supervisory agencies in charge of the higher institutions in Nigeria with regard to management of entrepreneurship education is basically the same. Yahya (2011) encapsulated the role as the transmission and implementation of government's policy with regard to entrepreneurship education in Nigeria. The expected outcomes from the assigned role include: a) establishing entrepreneurship study in all higher institutions, b) establishing the curriculum for the course, c) the development of teachers guide, instructional manual and students' handbook for sale as well as capacity building for at least ten lecturers in each university, d) establishment of entrepreneurship resource and knowledge centers in the NUC, and e) Capacity-building for at least ten teachers in all universities and development of Masters and Ph.D programmes in some selected universities. Oyelola (2010), the Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), Yaba College of Technology notes that the policy thrust of entrepreneurship education is the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills by polytechnic students so as to be self-employed after graduation. Entrepreneurship education, when properly imbibed offers a veritable solution to the growing graduate unemployment in the country. It is believed within the policy circles that from 2006 to 2010 (the first three years of establishing entrepreneurship programme) that at least 50,000 graduates would have gone through entrepreneurship education with sufficient entrepreneurial skills. Out of the projected 50,000 6

7 trainees, it is presumed that at least 10,000 graduates would be self-employed and self-reliant by establishing their own business ventures (Yahya, 2011). Beyond the policy thrust of entrepreneurship as defined in the curricular of higher education in Nigeria, Garavan and O'Cinneide (1994) noted that the major objective of entrepreneurship education or training in the literature is to develop enterprising people and inculcate an attitude of self-reliance using appropriate learning processes. In other words, entrepreneurship training programmes are aimed at stimulating independent small business ownership or the development of opportunity-seeking managers within established companies. Whereas, Shepherd and Douglas (1997) note that the thrust of entrepreneurship education is the ability of graduate trainees to envision and chart a course for a new business venture by combining information from the functional disciplines and those from the external environment in the context of the extraordinary uncertainty and ambiguity which faces a new business venture. This explains the current upsurge in the number of colleges and universities offering entrepreneurship education courses. The number has risen from one university in 1947 to over 1600 in the 1990s (Solomon and Fernald, 1991; Solomon et al, 1994; Solomon, et al, 2002). Schnurr and Newing (1997) however felt that the policy thrust of entrepreneurship is the need to promote entrepreneurship culture among hardworking youths with sterling qualities such as resourcefulness, initiative, drive, imagination, enthusiasm, zest, dash, ambition, energy, boldness, audacity and courage which are all valuable traits for developing business enterprises for self-sufficiency. Failure to direct all these entrepreneurial traits to positive endeavours is responsible for the high wave of crimes, vandalism, gansterism, kidnapping and militancy in the Niger-Delta and other trouble spots in Nigeria (Raimi and Adeleke, 2010). Entrepreneurship education wherever engendered, precipitates employment generation, growth of the economy and promotes sustainable development. Survey data from Zambia supports the above submission as a quarter of the youth (25 percent) are self-employed (Chigunta, 2001). The same assertion is supported by evidence from Ghana where a survey of small scale enterprises revealed that young people owned almost 40 percent of the enterprises (Osei, et al., 1993). Similar evidence from South Africa suggests that the probability of self-employment among young people rises with age (Chigunta, 2001). When Nigerians especially unemployed youth are mentored and provided the needed resources for starting business ventures, the illegal acts of hostage taking, kidnapping, bombing and vandalism would become less attractive. Considering the policy thrust of entrepreneurship education over flogged above, it has continued to receive positive attention and massive financial support from knowledge-based economy like America and Japan. Presently in the US, there exist more than 2,200 entrepreneurship courses domicile in over 1,600 academic institutions with 277 endowed academic positions facilitating this specialised programme (Kuratko, 2003). It also enjoys intellectual visibility as front-burner issues in the publications of 44 refereed academic and mainstream management journals and there over 100 funded entrepreneurship development centers (EDCs) in the United States alone (Kuratko, 2003). 7

8 Link between Entrepreneurship Education and National Development: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the leading force in the economic development of African economies as well as other developing countries. Entrepreneurial activities such as innovation, risk bearing, employment creation, finding new opportunities and the commercialization of their inventions have contributed to the prosperity in all regions of the world (Ukaegbu, 2000; Chu, Kara and Benzing, 2008). In Europe, the organised private sector is controlled by self-motivated and talented entrepreneurs who provide employment for 60 percent of the entire workforce (Wintermantel, 1999, Chu et al., 2008). The story is not different in industrialized Japan, where there exists six million small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which collectively account for 99.7 percent of all businesses in the country, and absorbed 70 percent of the total labour force in Japan (Chu et. al. 2008). In Taiwan, a total of 96 percent of all private sector firms are SMEs employing 78 percent of the nation's work force (Lin, 1998). In the Sub-Saharan Africa, a survey conducted indicated that cottage, micro-firms and medium enterprises are vital sector of the economy; by virtue of their potentials and significant contributions to Africa's economic growth. Typical Ghanaian micro-enterprises employ less than 5 people, yet accounted for 70 percent of the country's workforce (Government of Ghana, 2003; World Bank, 2006). In the same vein, Kenya's private sector SMEs employed 3.2 million people and contributed 18 percent to the nation's total GDP (OECD, 2005). The impact of small businesses on the Nigerian economy is difficult to accurately measure, but it is believed to be highly dynamic and significant. It has been estimated that between 45 and 60 percent of the urban labour force work for private enterprises (Chu et al., 2008). Ariyo (2005) suggested that the Nigerian private sector provides 50 percent of the country's employment and 50 percent of its industrial output. It could therefore be concluded that the monumental economic and social contributions of entrepreneurship initiatives worldwide through the establishment of new companies (groupowned companies and family-owned businesses) have significantly impacted positively on employment creation, emergence of innovative products/services and economic renewal when compared with the contributions that the celebrated largest 500 companies have made since their emergence (Kuratko, 2003). Materials and Methods: The methodology employed in this paper is the narrative-textual case study (NTCS); a method preferred by the authors because of absence of relevant quantitative data related to the Management of Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Higher Institutions. NTCS is a social science research method that intensively makes use of materials (information, data and academic resources) made available and easily accessible on the internet, World Wide Web, online databases, e-libraries et cetera (Abouzeedan and Leijon, 2007). The choice of this method is informed by the fact that NTCS combines the use of quantitative and qualitative observation, text content analysis and available official statistics in different proportions for problem-solving or problem-identification where relevant data to subject of study are not available or accessible. The paper is structured in three sections: introduction, issues, challenges and way forward. 8

9 Analysis and Discussion of Results (Challenges of Managing Entrepreneurship Education in Nigeria): The challenges of effective management of entrepreneurship education in Nigerian Higher Institutions could be succinctly highlighted under the followings; Policy matters, Manpower requirements, Funding strategy, Infrastructural development, Pedagogical skills and Sociocultural background and Environmental factor. Policy matter: (a)lateness in starting: Recent inclusion of entrepreneurship education in the curricula of Nigerian higher institutions itself is a major challenge in its effective and efficient management because anything new takes time to develop firm root; the US started in the 1947 (Kuratko, 2003). By the early 1980s in the US over 300 universities have mounted courses in entrepreneurship and small business and by the 1990s the number institution reporting entrepreneurship programme increased to 1,050 schools (Solomon, et al., 1994; Kuratko, 2003). The current hitches in the management of entrepreneurship education in the Nigerian higher institution are therefore normal and is a teething problem that can be solved by the education authorities. (b)ineffective curriculum implementation: Translating the higher institutions curriculum on entrepreneurship education into reality by the colleges, polytechnics and universities has been a serious challenge caused by paucity of experts in the field, absence of relevant text-books, ineffective teaching method, and inadequate tools for practical-oriented simulation exercises and funding. This is not new in the Nigerian education history. The term curriculum implementation is viewed by Mkpa (1987) several years back as: The task of translating the curriculum document into the operating curriculum by the combined efforts of the students, teachers and others concerned. Whereas, Garba (2004) discussing problem of curriculum implementation describes curriculum implementation as: putting the curriculum into work for the achievement of the goals for which the curriculum is designed. The curriculum for entrepreneurship education made available to the three levels of tertiary institutions has not really achieved the policy thrust of the programme. This explains why Onyeachu (2008) asserts that no matter how well designed, planned and documented the curriculum of any subject is planned; the core issue of utmost importance is the implementation modalities. The challenge of most programmes in Nigeria arises from translation of the objectives of a curriculum from paper to practical realities at the implementation stage (Okebukola, 2004). Manpower requirements: Dearth of competent lecturers: At the moment, there is inadequacy of competent lecturers in the field of entrepreneurship to make the course more practical-oriented as opposed to theoretical instructions. On account of this challenge, Ifedili and Ofoegbu (2011) note that educators are worried about the contents of Entrepreneurship Education being dish out to the undergraduates in Nigerian universities. The missing pragmatic approach is the use of industrial field trips, VCD/CDs, documentaries, guest lecturers from established companies, mentoring of students by SMEs support agencies/banks, and assistance by professionals to provide technical support for the development of business plans. 9

10 Funding strategy: Paucity of funds: Funding of higher education is dwindling in Nigeria and this has terribly affected the implementation of entrepreneurship education curricula. The National Universities Commission (NUC) like its counterpart supervisory agencies (NBTE & NCCE) notes that funding for the establishment of entrepreneurship centers is inadequate, a situation that has affected the full implementation and entrenchment of practical teaching of entrepreneurship education in many universities. Education Trust Fund (ETF) is being refocused to challenge universities to evolve ways to foster practical entrepreneurship in their innovative research activities by funding the establishment of productive entrepreneurship centers in the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education (Yahya, 2011). Infrastructural development: Deficient learning materials: There is deficiency in the current learning materials made available to student offering entrepreneurship education course in Nigerian tertiary institutions. This thus hinders the actualization of the goals and policy objectives of entrepreneurship education as stated in the curricula of higher education. Ifedili and Ofoegbu (2011) opine that on account of deficient learning materials/text-books on entrepreneurship education that fit the Nigerian situation, the students are forced to make do with scanty handouts/training manuals given to them by course instructors. Worse still, these deficient handouts/manuals have never been reviewed for many years despite the constant changes in knowledge and technology. It is not a challenge peculiar to Nigeria; it has been an age long problem. Hess (1987) found that available text books devoted too little coverage for Entrepreneurship Education. Pedagogical skills: Ineffective teaching methods: The current theoretical teaching with emphasis on writing of business plan in groups of about students has been flawed (Ifedili and Ofoegbu, 2011). Educators opined that pragmatic evaluation of individual s project profile and business plan is more effective than the group activities. Available teaching methods in entrepreneurship education include: experiential-based teaching, practical assignment method and the method of working in groups. It has been established from the foregoing discussions that for the needed interaction among learners, the use of practical-oriented teaching methods as opposed to theoretic issues should be preferred if the objective of business-oriented education is to prepare students/trainees/graduates for the world of work (Zraa et al., 2011). Socio-cultural background: Poor mindset by students: A worrisome challenge to entrepreneurship education is that students perceive the entrepreneurship education as one of the unnecessary general courses imposed on them by the authorities to fulfill graduation requirements. They therefore exhibit poor participation in all entrepreneurship activities on campus (Ifedili and Ofoegbu, 2011). Kuratoko (2003) remarked that "unless students go to bed at night and feel their spines sweat, they [will] never know what it feels like to be an entrepreneur. The import of this bitter statement is that learners/trainees in the field of entrepreneurship should be empowered with a lot of hands-on practical exposure to business. 10

11 Environmental factor: Unfriendly Business Environment: Another indirect challenge confronting management of entrepreneurship education is the echoes of multidimensional sufferings and problems affecting graduates who own small businesses in the Nigerian business environment. This unpleasant experience sends wrong signals to undergraduates taking a compulsory course in education. According to Kisunko, Brunetti and Weder, (1999) emerging entrepreneurs face high taxes, unfriendly regulations, inadequate infrastructural facilities, rising inflation, labour regulations and rigid laws governing the starting and running a business. The feedbacks from colleagues who opted for self-employment are certainly not palatable. Entrepreneurs and small businesses in Nigeria suffer from plethora of challenges, namely: harassment/extortion by government officials, poor infrastructure including bad roads, water shortage, erratic electric supply and poor telecommunication system (Mambula, 2002; Chu, Kara, Benzing, 2008). Difficulty in gaining access to bank credits and other financial institutions proved to be a major challenge hindering entrepreneurship development, but the most serious and damaging problem threatening the state of entrepreneurship in Nigeria is a lack of government interest in and support for MSEs (Ariyo, 2005; Chu et al., 2008). Conclusion From the foregoing discussion it has been sufficiently established that the management of entrepreneurship education in the Nigerian higher institutions is grossly deficient and ineffective on account of paucity of funds, ineffective teaching method, paucity of handbooks/text-books, and inadequacy of experienced lecturers and host of other serious challenging factors. Even for graduates who struggled to establish personal businesses, the support for SMEs is limited and quite inadequate. Government should therefore increase its support for entrepreneurial initiatives in order to actualize the goal and objectives of Entrepreneurship education. Way forward In the light of the issues and challenges discussed above, there are a number of policy prescriptions to policy-makers in the Nigerian higher institutions and supervisory agencies in charge of the three levels of tertiary education in Nigeria. a) A national culture of entrepreneurship and pragmatic approach should be fostered among students offering entrepreneurship education in tertiary institutions in order to fast tracts Nigeria s economic growth and sustainable development as witnesses in America, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China and recently India and Malaysia. Pragmatic approach will remove cognitive biases and create entrepreneurial consciousness among learners offering entrepreneurship education in all the academic departments in Nigerian higher institutions. b) Arising from (a) above, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme should foster further acquisition of Entrepreneurship skills during the service year with 6-month intensive practical skills coupled with conversion of 50% of budgetary allocation to each corps member to business start-up capital. This will cushion the effect of inadequate funding affecting the actualization of the goals of Entrepreneurship education in Nigeria. c) Tertiary institutions offering entrepreneurship education, as part of their pragmatic and practical-oriented methods should organize field trips, industrial tours, mentorship programme, exhibitions, coaching/grooming, seminars, conferences and workshops etc are essential in order to inspire undergraduate students to imbibe entrepreneurial traits. 11

12 d) The government should provide substantial funding for public universities/polytechnic and colleges of education offering entrepreneurship education courses. The funding should cover training for both academic and administrative members of staff to be charged with the management of entrepreneurship education across the three levels of tertiary institutions. e) The authorities of the universities/polytechnics/colleges of education should ensure that lecturers assigned to teach entrepreneurship education courses are specialists in the field. Where there are obvious shortages, accelerated training within Nigeria and abroad should be provided for non-specialists lecturers with relevant background in academia, and practical experience in entrepreneurship from the industry. f) There is the need for periodic review and assessment of the contents of the entrepreneurship education curricula. The good curriculum should inculcate in the undergraduate students/learners practical skills on idea generation in the environment, turning identified ideas to viable business opportunities, promoting and managing established businesses and acceptable global business ethics for SMEs as well as rudiments for preparation of a business plan, business management skills, etc. g) The assistance of government s support agencies in terms of funding and advisory services for graduates start-up businesses must be reviewed and streamlined. The National Directorate for Employment (NDE), the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and the Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) should be alive to their statutory mandates by providing all round assistance to Nigerian graduates right from the tertiary institutions. h) The Bank of Industry (BOI) as a financial institution for SMEs should introduce creative programmes that will benefit young Nigerian graduates whose dreams of establishing innovative small-scale businesses are being threatened by non-availability of funds. i) The country has an abundance of human resources, who could be sent for specialised training in entrepreneurship education and small business management. This prescription would help to bridge the current gap of inadequacy of expert lecturers, mentors and coaches and more importantly provide appropriate guidance and the right instructional environment for students offering compulsory courses in entrepreneurship education. j) The culture of entrepreneur should be integrated into all courses of study in Nigerian tertiary institutions by re-orientating the Nigerian graduates and changing their mindsets from seeking for job to creating jobs by imparting both the principles and practices of entrepreneurship education using well robust and stimulating pedagogical skills. REFERENCES Abouzeedan, Adli and Leijon, Svante (2007). Critical review of the usage of narrative-textual case studies in social sciences and the connect to traditional research methods. Paper presented at the 10 th Uddevalla Symposium, June, Uddevalla, Sweden. Research Report, University West. Acs, Z.J. and D.J. Storey (2004) Introduction: Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, Regional Studies 38(8):

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