INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Economies of the world possess four essential elements, viz, land; labour; capital and entrepreneurship, though they are not evenly distributed. Youth empowerment is an attitudinal, structural and cultural process whereby the youth gain the ability to make decisions and employment changes in his or her hues and other people including adults. The highest pool of potential workforce for any nation is its university students. Therefore, for an individual (Youth) to be considered a potential successful entrepreneur, certain prerequisites abound, such as essential characteristics possessed by the individual. These are: creativity and innovativeness, self-confidence, problem solving skills, risk taking ability, high self-esteem, capacity to change and organizational abilities. All these are good characteristic graduates of technical and vocational education needs to function well in world of work and also in development of their country. In Nigeria today, schools will be making important contributions in reducing unemployment and underemployment by taking holistic steps in the teaching of entrepreneurship in our schools through changing the teaching methodology.