ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN RESOURCE SOFT-SKILLS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS OF PUBLIC/PRIVATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The situation in Nigeria has worsened in recent years where more people, cutting across all facets of age groups, educational strata, and geographical entities, are out of jobs than ever before based on the rate of unemployment in the country which has been so alarming, in spite of the establishment of entrepreneurship development course into the Nigerian tertiary institutions curriculum several years ago. Based on the ongoing, this study assessed the influence of entrepreneurship development and human resource soft-skills on entrepreneurial intention of public and private university graduates in Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population is made up of NYSC members that served in three (3) selected states; Lagos, Ondo and Ogun in South-West, Nigeria. 403 sample size was selected via purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by means of structured questionnaires. The hypothesis was tested using the independent sample t-test with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Findings revealed that, there is no statistically significant difference in entrepreneurial intention scores of the participants. Public (M = 3.84, SD = 0.516) and Private (M =3.72, SD = 0.586; t (400) = 1.70, p = 0.089. This study recommends that, Entrepreneurship development curriculum should be practically /acquisition of skills oriented in our various universities as this will create a suitable environment for soft skills development that can accelerate the fulfillment of an entrepreneurial intentions.