Entrepreneurship And Economic Development In Nigeria

This paper underscores the importance of entrepreneurship as a realistic mechanism for sustainable economic growth in Nigeria considering the experiences of developed nations like the United States and vibrant economies like China and India. The paper discusses that entrepreneurship has been instrumental in economic growth, balanced regional development and job creation in most dynamic economies, where technology is changing at a faster rate and the product lifetime cycle is shrinking. The methodology adopted in this paper is the narrative-textual case study (NTCS); it is a social science research method that relies on the information and data from several sources for problem-solving or problem-identification. 

Over the past decades, due to constant internal and external pressures of low capacity production, massive unemployment and poverty collapsed infrastructural facilities, poor governance structure, massive corruption, insecurity of life and property, political instability and poor macroeconomic management. The economy seems to have lost its focus and thus is yearning for quick intervention.

In addition, the school curriculum is largely not geared towards equipping students with skills required for self-employment. Consequently, thousands of graduates from our tertiary institutions are roaming the streets in search of jobs that are non –existent. Thus the need for entrepreneurship arises. 

Entrepreneurship is about taking a risk. (i) It is the process of creating new values that did not previously exist.(ii) It is the practice of starting new organization, especially new businesses.(iii) It involves creation of new wealth through implementation of new concepts. Drucker believes that what entrepreneurs have in common is not personality traits but a commitment to innovation. For innovation to occur, the entrepreneur must have not only talent, ingenuity and knowledge but he must also be hardworking, focused and purposeful. Entrepreneurship can be defined as “the willingness and ability of an individual or group of person to search for investment opportunities, establish and run a business unit successfully”.

Study shows that entrepreneurship has been beneficial because the Nigerian private sector comprising small and medium enterprises provides diverse employment opportunities for 50% of the country’s population and 50% of its industrial output. This paper, therefore, discusses how Nigeria can attain a sustainable economic development through the effort of the entrepreneurs and the government.