Assessment of Entrepreneurship Training and Education as Strategic Tools for Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria

Entrepreneurship is one of the measures embraced by the government to reduce mass poverty and unemployment in the country. This study is not established to evaluate past measures of poverty reduction in Nigeria, but aim at investigating the entrepreneurship training on poverty alleviation. Entrepreneurship education and training entails philosophy of self-reliance such as creating a new cultural and productive environment, promoting new sets of attitudes and culture for the attainment of future challenges. The main objective of the study is to investigate the intensity of entrepreneurship training and education as strategic tools for poverty alleviation in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State-Nigeria. Using a stratified random sampling technique, 160 entrepreneurs and apprenticeships were selected as respondents. Data were gathered through a self-monitored questionnaire survey. Biseral correlation was used to test the relationship between the entrepreneurship training and education and poverty alleviation. Two hypotheses were postulated to determine the relationship between technical skill and youth empowerment and between personal entrepreneurial skill and social welfare services. This study confirmed that entrepreneurship training and education are significantly related to the youth empowerment and social welfare services. Findings revealed that youth empowerment are influenced by their acquired technical skill. The study recommends effective technical education, youth empowerment, and social welfare service as a catalyst for poverty alleviation.