ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to examine the role of business education in poverty eradication in Federal Polytechnic Oko. To achieve this objective, two research questions were stated to guide this study. To achieve this objective, five research questions were stated to guide this study. The survey research design was adopted for the study. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentages. A structured questionnaire was used as the major instrument for data collection from the selected students of Federal Polytechnic Oko. After the careful analysis of the data, the following findings were revealed that; there are measures adopted by Business education in poverty eradication in Nigeria and there is role business education play in poverty eradication in Nigeria.. It was recommended that youths should be encouraged to have a change of attitude and perception towards the subject matter of Business education. They should see it as a subject that can bring them out of poverty and make them to be self-reliant.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
All hands must be on deck in the fight towards total eradication of poverty in the West African sub region and Nigeria especially since Nigeria happens to be the giant of Africa. It is no news that Africa as a continent is believed to be one of the poorest continents on earth and so is West Africa in the African continent. The poverty level in Nigeria has become so high that it is regarded as one of the major developmental challenges to her economic and social growth. Research has it that about 50% of the nation’s population is living below the poverty line. This means that these Nigerians cannot, with any degree of comfort, afford the basic needs of life like food clothing and shelter. It needs not be over-emphasized that this is not only unacceptable, but also pathetic. The leaders on their part have made varied efforts and attempts to check and arrest this phenomenon, fabulous sums of money have been spent over decades of trials. This paper will examine how business education will assist in poverty alleviation. This is to complement government’s effort in this direction. Business education according to Osuala (1996) is a programme of instruction which consists of two parts which are office education which is a vocational education programmed for office careers through initial, refresher programme that provides students with information and competencies which are needed by all in managing personal business affairs and in using the services of business. Office education involves education for office occupations, or the acquisition of skills, attitudes, aptitudes, and knowledge needed to carry out the function of office (Osagie, 1992). Such occupation may include book-keeping transcribing, telephone operation, stenography, confidential secretaryship, machine operation etc. Which in addition involve management and advancement in occupations related to the office. Business education is an educational process, whose primary aim is to prepare people for role in enterprises, as employers, entrepreneurs or self-employed (Amaewhule, 2000). Anao (1986) said that business education could be seen as the sum total of the knowledge, skill and attitude that are required for successfully promoting and administering business enterprises.
Education is also an important contributor to technological capability and technical change in industry. Statistical analysis of the clothing and engineering industries in Nigeria showed that the skill and education levels of workers and entrepreneurs were positively related to the rate of technical change of the firm (Deraniyagal, 2005). Education alone, of course cannot transform an economy. The quality and quality of investment, domestic and foreign, together with the overall policy environment, form the other important determinants of economic performance. Yet the level of human development has a fearing on these factors too. The quality of policy making and of investment decisions is bound to be influenced by the education of both policy makers and managers. According to Lucas 2008, for example, the higher the level of education of the work force the higher the overall productivity of capital because the more educated are more likely to innovate, and thus affect everyone’s productivity. This implies that increased education of individuals raises not only their own productivity but also that of others with whom they interact, so that total productivity increases as the average level of education rises (Perotti, 2008). The impact of education on the nature and growth of exports, which, in turn, affect the aggregate growth rate, is another way in which human development influences a country’s performance. The education and skills of a developing country’s labor force influence the nature of its factor endowment and consequently the composition of its trade. It has been argued that even ‘unskilled’ workers in a modern factory normally need the literacy, numeracy, and discipline, which are acquired in primary and lower secondary school (Wood, 2009).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Business education is a programme of study that prepares individuals with multiple skills for teaching and entrepreneurship activities. Ali (2010) states that dearth of employment related skills; entrepreneurial skills and ignorance of the work environment among youths have caused economic and personal hardship within the past few years. With so many graduates in the labour market, employers look for evidence of skills which would make an individual stand out from the crowd. In the last decade there had been growing economic downturn in the country leading to a situation of drop in the capacity of government and corporate organizations to provide employment to graduates of institutions of higher learning. This has been the case with students from Jos . The situation has led to a paradigm shift from relying on government jobs to the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills for self-reliance. Functional educational programmes, such as effective business education, that is supposed to instill entrepreneurship and job skills for self-sustenance amongst the graduates, may have not done much.
Based on the factors and issues emphasized above, there may exist skills gap in the business education programme. Therefore, the focus of the researcher is to systematically investigate and document The role of business education in poverty eradication in primary school in jos north local government area of plateau state
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to find out the role of business education in poverty eradication in Federal Polytechnic Oko. The specific objectives include the following:
- To determine the measures adopted by Business education in poverty eradication in Nigeria?
- To examine the role business education play in poverty eradication in Nigeria?
- To proffer solutions and recommendations on the issues facing business education students in Federal Polytechnic Oko.
1.4 Research Questions
- Are there any measures adopted by Business education in poverty eradication in Nigeria?
- Is there any role business education play in poverty eradication in Nigeria?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The focus of this study brings to the fore the crucial need for The role of business education in poverty eradication. The study highlights the problems of the level of education in the country and its equivalence to level of poverty in the society by virtue of lack of employment or knowledge of how to startup businesses. One of the SDGs highlights education as a critical factor for reducing poverty and dependency in developed nations. Therefore, this thesis contributes to knowledge by identifying what is important to the economy, which is qualitative education focused on the needs of the economy per time, rather than the resolution of the United Nations to increase budgetary details or increasing the number of people that go through school.
1.6 Limitation of the Study
There is no study undertaken by a researcher that is perfect. The imperfection of any research is always due to some factors negatively affecting a researcher in the course of carrying out research. Therefore, time constraint has shown no mercy to the researcher. The limited time has to be shared among many alternative uses, which includes reading, attending lectures and writing of this research.
