The Vice President of Nigeria,Professor Yemi Osinbajo has recommended the strengthening of sound entrepreneurship training from Primary schools to boost the capacity of Nigerians in the globally competitive economic environment.

Osinbajo stated this at the official launch of the National School Entrepreneurship Programme (N-SEP) hosted by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in Abuja, harping on government encouragement of schools to develop entrepreneurial capacity of students.

He noted that the emergence of knowledge based economy have led to the adoption of entrepreneurship education as a means of linking knowledge and skill with learning for developing critical human capital and mitigate social consequences of unemployment.

He noted that two schools from Abuja were selected to represent Nigeria at the Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) 2018 World Cup billed for Durban, South Africa from August 8th to 14th.

The Vice President noted that entrepreneurship and human capital development all over the world is seen as booster for wealth creation, employment generation, living standard, as well as poverty and crime reduction which have direct impact on the national economy.

“This programme we are launching today is aimed at encouraging an innovative/skills among basic and secondary schools pupils/students as this will enhance entrepreneurship and enterprise development towards poverty reduction and employment generation. They should cultivate the culture of being their own bosses and not job seekers right from primary and secondary schools.

“The development of any nation depends mainly on the creative capacity of the citizens to be capable of effectively exploring and exploiting the country’s natural resources and transforming them into finished products and services through value addition. The main purpose of entrepreneurship for children in primary/secondary education is to encourage them to think of creativity and innovation,” he stated

Also speaking at the occasion, the Director General/CEO of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Umaru Radda, assured that the agency will continue to invest in young entrepreneurs

He stated: “The development of entrepreneurial mind-sets among pupils/students in primary and secondary schools in Nigeria is becoming increasingly important in preparation for catching them young for improving employment generation through wealth creation and self-reliance.”

He noted that N-SEP is set to provide access to functional and hand-on entrepreneurship and community service education to every primary and secondary school students in Nigeria.

“This is to reduce poverty and massive youth unemployment, also to create a network of leaders who will see the challenges in their communities as their responsibilities,” he added.