Empowering The Female Undergraduates With Practical Entrepreneurial Skills Development For Curbing Social Economic Challenges In Rivers State
Ukata, Philip Festus & Nmehielle, Edith Luke
Department of Office Technology and Management, Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Abstract
The unjustifiable constants neglect to empower the women in Nigeria called for; “Empowering the female undergraduates with practical entrepreneurial skills development for curbing social economic challenges in Rivers State.” The study was directed by two research questions, and two null hypotheses were developed. The study design used was a descriptive survey. There were 79 lecturers in the population, and a census sampling technique was used. Three experts verified a four-point response options questionnaire that was used to gather data. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the instrument’s dependability; the result was a coefficient of 0.89 and 0.88. The mean was employed to address the research questions, and the null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that there was a high level of improvement in the practical entrepreneurial abilities required to enable female undergraduates to address social and economic challenges. Also, there was a significant benefit on reducing social and economic challenges from equipping female undergraduates with real-world business skills. Consequently, it was determined that Nigeria’s social and economic problems would be significantly reduced if our postsecondary institutions sufficiently equipped female undergraduates with useful entrepreneurial abilities. In addition to other crucial recommendations, Nigeria’s female students and women in general should be equipped with high-demanding, lifelong skills for the rapidly evolving workplace by means of sufficient funding for the development of practical entrepreneurial abilities. In addition to government subsidies, the money should be consistent, steady, and could come from other sources as well.
Keywords: Empowering the female undergraduates, practical entrepreneurial skills development, and curbing social economic challenges.
Impact Statement
The study, empowering the female undergraduates with practical entrepreneurial skills development for curbing social economic challenges in Rivers State, has impacted positively by revealing challenges such as poverty, armed bandits, kidnapping, restlessness, hooliganism, prostitution, early marriage, and high levels of marginalization faced by female undergraduates. It has exposed the practical entrepreneurial skills development areas such as E-related initiatives, Metal work, Pastry-Bakery, Audio and telecommunication, Horticulture development, Pastry-Bakery, and Animal husbandry necessary for empowering the female undergraduates. These practical entrepreneurial skills development areas have impacted on employment opportunities, wealth creation, and poverty alleviation among others. Furthermore, the study has provided a remedial data for stakeholders to handle the social economic challenges identified as recommendations, and filled a gap in the body of knowledge as well served a source of information to new researchers in different areas.
About Author
Dr. Philip Festus Ukata is currently a lecturer at the department of Office Technology and Management, Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Rivers State Nigeria. He is a member of the following eight (8) different professional bodies; 1. Teacher Registration Council of Nigeria, 2. Association of Vocational and Technical Education of Nigeria, 3. Association of Business Educators of Nigeria, 4. European Centre for Research Training and Development, UK, 5. Institute of Strategic Management of Nigeria, 6. Association of Business Specialists and Entrepreneurs of Nigeria, 7. National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Offences, and 8. Fellow, Institute of Policy Management Development, Nigeria.
He has diligently as a single and co-author published fifty (50) articles in learned local, national and international journals with over 70 percent of them accessible in Google Scholar and ResearchGate. I have ten (10) chapters of books contributions, and five (5) single author books, two were sponsored by Federal Government of Nigeria (Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TET fund). One of his books had been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Russian) (Selling Online).
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