ABSTRACT
This research looked at how fostering entrepreneurship would help reduce young unemployment in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The study’s major goal is to see how fostering entrepreneurship will assist to minimize youth unemployment. The study uses primary data from 500 questionnaires distributed to self-employed adolescents managing their own enterprises in Yenagoa, Nigeria’s capital.
The findings show that supporting entrepreneurship and youth unemployment have a substantial relationship. As a result, the study suggests that the Federal Government of Nigeria construct training centers and supply required equipment so that youngsters can learn entrepreneurial skills, as well as provide finances in the form of loans so that youths can start firms easily. Entrepreneurship is the study of why, when, and how opportunities are created, recognized, and used to provide goods and services through the development of new firms (start-ups) and inside existing firms for profit and non-profit purposes. Not all opportunity creation is in the best interests of society. A society’s compensation structure can also contribute to a wasteful distribution of entrepreneurial talent. The emphasis here is on successful entrepreneurship. This entails the creation, recognition, and usage of good chances in such a way that “innovation” or the provision of “new combinations” of products and/or processes are involved. Entrepreneurship is a trait that emphasizes the risk and work done by persons who manage or own businesses.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Every society on the planet faces its own set of issues and challenges. Nigeria is no different. As a developing country, it faces its own set of social, political, economic, and cultural issues, all of which have had a significant impact on the population’s well-being. Youth unemployment and a rising tide of crime are two such issues plaguing the country, both of which have major ramifications for the country’s growth. Despite the abundance of human and natural resources in the country, Nigeria’s unemployment rate has continued to rise. In Nigeria, chronic youth unemployment is evident. Thousands of graduates are created each year, but the majority of them are unemployed. Nigerian streets are crowded with young hawkers who would normally have found work elsewhere. On the definition of unemployment, there appears to be agreement. Simply simply, unemployment refers to the state of persons who are unemployed (Okafor, 2011). The unemployed are defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as the number of economically active persons who are unemployed but looking for work, including people who have lost their jobs and those who have voluntarily quit their jobs (World Bank, 1993). According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2009), a country’s labor force is a group of people or citizens who are willing and able to make available their efforts for gainful employment at any given time, whereas the jobless are those who are unemployed but seeking for work at the time. Seasonal, frictional, cyclical, and structural unemployment are among them (Adebayo, 1999; Damachi, 2001; Hollister and Goldstein, 1994; Todaro, 1992). Unemployment is a worldwide trend, although it is particularly prevalent in emerging countries, with social, economic, political, and psychological consequences. As a result, huge youth unemployment in any country is a sign of far more serious issues (Okafor, 2009). According to the ILO’s 2007 report, global unemployment is gradually rising, and the number of unemployed people reached an all-time high of more than 195 million, or 6.3 percent, in 2007. For example, in 2007, the Middle East and North Africa had the world’s highest unemployment rate of 12.2%, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa with a rate of 8%.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Unemployment is a socioeconomic issue that every country deals with to the best of their abilities. Individual study papers and other government statements show that the situation in Nigeria has gotten out of hand, with around 75% of individuals eager to work in Nigeria unable to obtain gainful employment, particularly among school leavers and graduates of tertiary institutions (NBS, 2014).
In 2019, the Bayelsa State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) received 46,985 applications from job seekers in Yenagoa, the state capital, who wanted to work as minor government employees.
The goal of the program was to prepare the beneficiaries to become long-term entrepreneurs at the end of the SEEFOR project’s 12-month duration. Every year, a new batch of graduates and school leavers join the ranks of the unemployed, fueling frustration and rage toward a society that has failed to provide for them. Several governments have attempted to tackle the threat of youth unemployment, but it appears that these measures have had little impact on the level of unemployment, which has continued to rise in the country. Ekong and Ekong, 2016; Akanwa and Akpanabia, 2013; Anyadike et al, 2012; Emeh, 2012; Ibrahim, 2010; Kaegon and Nwogu, 2012; Udeorah, 2014) have all recommended business development as a guaranteed way to combat Nigeria’s rising unemployment rate. As a result, this research was conducted.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study’s main goal is to see if fostering business growth might help Nigeria overcome its rising unemployment rate.
The precise aims, on the other hand, are to:
Determine the extent to which the state government promotes and supports entrepreneurship.
Determine whether state government support of entrepreneurship has an impact on Bayelsa’s unemployment rate.
Examine the extent to which the expense of doing business in Bayelsa can stifle the growth of entrepreneurship.
Determine the impact of government incentives for small enterprises on the development of entrepreneurship in Bayelsa.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions were posed to help guide the study’s goals: 1. Can appropriate government institutions and other entrepreneurial training have an impact on Nigeria’s unemployment rate?
2. To what extent does the expense of doing business in Nigeria stifle the growth of entrepreneurship?
3. Can government incentives for small firms influence the development of entrepreneurship in Nigeria?
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
To steer the study’s objectives and reinforce the analysis, the following null hypotheses were developed:
Ho: Encouraging entrepreneurship will have little effect on Nigeria’s unemployment rate.
Ho: In Nigeria, the cost of conducting business cannot stifle the growth of entrepreneurship.
Ho: The degree of entrepreneurship development in Nigeria cannot be influenced by government incentives for small enterprises.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The research will add to the corpus of knowledge in the field by adding to the body of literature. As previous studies in the area have shown, business development has been a popular prescription for reducing Nigeria’s rising unemployment rate. Furthermore, the policy discourse that will result from the findings will be extremely beneficial to a variety of stakeholders, including the government, practicing and aspiring entrepreneurs, students, researchers, and the general public.
1. The government: The government would be sufficiently informed about how to make entrepreneurship development have a substantial impact on unemployment.
2. Practicing and Aspiring Entrepreneurs: These groups of people would be more informed on how to take advantage of government incentives to help them grow their businesses by lowering their costs of doing business.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The goal of this project is to promote entrepreneurship as a means of reducing unemployment in Bayelsa State.
ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This chapter introduced the study’s main focus. The chapter also discussed the study’s history and outlined the research challenge as well as the research’s knowledge gap. The research topics that led the study were also discussed in this chapter. This study also established the study’s rationale and scope, which is confined to five Nigerian non-governmental organizations. The importance of the study has also been addressed, as well as definitions of words used in the research. The second chapter summarized previous research on the subject and organized the review around the research questions. The study’s research method was discussed in the third chapter.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Unemployment: Unemployment is described as a condition in which a person of working age is unable to find work but want to work full-time.
Entrepreneurship is the process of creating, launching, and operating a new firm, which is usually a small enterprise at first. Entrepreneurship has been described as “the act of starting a business.” “capacity and willingness to create, organize, and manage a business enterprise, as well as any risks involved in making a profit.
Youth: Youth refers to the period of one’s life when one is young, and it usually refers to the period between childhood and adulthood (maturity). It’s also known as “the appearance, vigor, enthusiasm, and other characteristics of a young person
Youth, according to the United Nations, are those between the ages of 15 and 24.
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