ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS PANACEA FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, EMPLOYMENT, SELF-RELIANCE AND SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
Edward Kuruku & Kwasedoo Ngbea
Department of Psychology,
Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria
Email: edwwardkuruku@gmail.com
*Corresponding author
ABSTRACT
Entrepreneurship as a concept and a vocation is a vital factor in human capital development in terms of job creation and skill acquisition. The objective of the paper is to examine, the role of entrepreneurship in the ever-growing population, with its resultant unemployment and other social problems in the society, especially among the youths, and proffer measures to ameliorate the situation. The unemployment rate in the world has grown astronomically without corresponding infrastructural amenities resulting to pressure on lean scarce resources. Added to this, the educational system in most developing countries are designed and geared towards the humanities, rather than technical, vocational and skills acquisition. This phenomenon has led to many graduates from the universities and other higher institutions of learning not finding jobs, thereby constituting social problems. Emotional intelligence has also been identified as a factor for youth empowerment, as it is perceived to be a predictive factor of entrepreneurial intentions, which refers to the ability to understand, interpret and regulate one’s emotions. Training needs of most institutions of learning have always being geared towards white collar jobs that are hard to come by these days. It is the submission of this paper that, if appropriate social support interventions are given to the youths, it will not only curb youth restiveness and, unemployment, but it will also prevent them from being vulnerable for recruitment into criminal gangs, like Islamic state (ISIS) and other terrorist organizations. National development can only be feasible when technical, vocational and computer education are given top priority, as the world economy is today driven by information technology the implication of this is that, those who lack these basic skills, would be left behind in the labour market. The paper finally recommends among others that, the present educational system especially in developing countries be overhauled to emphasize technical and vocational training which are brain child of entrepreneurship.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Social Support, Emotional Intelligence, Employment, Self-reliance, National development.
