Harnessing The Elusive Demographic Dividend In Nigeria Through Improved Skills, Entrepreneurship Development And Labour Force Participation
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Abstract
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The age structure of Nigeria's population shows a rapidly
growing youth population of 73 million in 2022. Nigeria's
youthful population will increase to 94 million by 2030.
The youthful surge can be harnessed for a demographic
dividend through increased youth labour force
participation in entrepreneurship. There are efforts to
train and give youth entrepreneurship skills to function
ef-fectively in the labour force. So, what effects do skills
and entrepreneurial development have on youth labour
force participation in Nigeria? The study surveyed youth
aged 15-35 across Nigeria using quantitative and
qualitative research approaches. A total of 2,396
questionnaires were com-pleted and retrieved. Also, the
study held 12 FGDs comprising 96 participants and 12
key inform-ant interviews. The findings show that
acquiring skills/entrepreneurial abilities is necessary to own a business but insufficient to grow a successful
venture and create the employment required to im-pact
the youth labour force. Youth with customer service
skills tend to build a successful business (OR=1.40;
CI=1.04, 1.89). The findings further indicate that
technical skills in catering could re-sult in owning a
business (OR=1.41; CI=1.08, 1.84), while ICT skills could
lead to securing em-ployment (OR=1.38; CI=1.09, 1.76).
The paper posits that increased capacity building among
youth through skills and entrepreneurship will lead to
more labour force participation and ultimate-ly result in
a demographic dividend for the country. Policymakers
and training institutions should deepen their training
programmes on skills and entrepreneurship
development programmes.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), HB Economic Theory