business education programme and economic development

Contribution of Business education programme to the Economic development of Calabar Municipality of Cross River State
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background to the Study
 It is the desire of every society to achieve a sustainable level of economic development. This could be possible through embarking on entrepreneurial activities by the citizens of the society. This is because the public sector cannot single-handedly drive in the desired level of development. Furthermore, the success of a society in entrepreneurship depends on skills (education) acquired by the entrepreneurs. This owes to the fact that education leads to creativity. Education also equips a person with relevant skills which would lead him to better performance in his chosen career.
Education plays a dominant role as an effective instrument for largescale achievement and revolution in all spheres. Purposeful education enables the individual to understand and study the real life situation and to develop an opportunity for creating confidence in the minds of younger generation, and provide a strong base for rational and value oriented and nation building progress (Myers & Harbison, 2001). Technical and vocational courses in higher education play a significant role in this context. Therefore, a close introspection of the trend of technical and vocational courses in higher education is essential, not only for making them attractive, but also in shaping them to be economically and socially relevant in Eritrea (Rena, 2004). Two highly commendable features, industriousness and steadfastness characterize the people of Eritrea. The Government is investing heavily on human resources development in the conviction that among its best resources are its people. Obviously, the courses in technical and vocational education are considered as utility oriented subjects; however they involve heavy cost to the national exchequer of Eritrea (Government of Eritrea, 1996).
The World Bank (2000) acknowledged the importance of technical and higher education for countries not to be left behind in a global economy based on knowledge. Criticizing an analysis that measures the benefits of higher education solely in terms of incremental earnings accruing to individuals, higher education is regarded as ‘simultaneously improves individual’s lives and enriches wider society’ (World Bank, 2000: 37). Further, education is a lifelong process. What a student obtains from the school and college is only a small part of the education that needs for the economic and social life of human being. Thus, both in the case of man who is determined to reach the summit, and the man who wants to make a complete success of his life, additional education is imperative to develop the special skills. Therefore, the education must be constant and continuous programme (Rena, 2005).
Business education is one of the major components of vocational education. In Nigeria, the discipline is offered at both the secondary and tertiary levels of education. According to Abdullahi (2002), Business education is an aspect of total educational programme which provides the recipient with knowledge, skills, understanding and attitude needed to perform well in the business world as a producer or consumer of goods and services. Furthermore, Osuala (2004) is of the opinion that Business education is a broad area of knowledge that deals with a nation’s economic system and also identifies and explains the rate of business contentment and experience that prepare individuals for effective participation as citizens, workers and consumers. Finally, The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) (2008) defines Business education as an aspect of vocational education that equips people with necessary skills and theoretical knowledge needed for performance in business world either for job occupation or self-employment.
It could be deduced from the definitions above that Business education is an education for and about business. It combines both theoretical and practical knowledge. In the same vein, it exposes the recipient to the economic system of his country and equips him with lifelong skills that would enable him to make reasonable judgement as a producer (entrepreneur), employee or consumer of goods and services. Finally, Aliyu (2013) stated that the purpose of Business education stresses the need for:

1. Specialized instruction to prepare students for career in business.
2. Fundamental instruction to help students assume their economic roles as consumers, workers and citizens.
3. Background instruction to assist students in preparing for professional careers requiring advanced study.

In line with these, Business education which is described as an ‘education for business and about business’ could make a person to perform well as an entrepreneur. This is due to the fact that it equips the recipients with skills which are needed for business success. Furthermore, entrepreneurship focuses on the desire and ability of a person to search for investment opportunities within his environment and also be able to set up and run an enterprise based on the identified opportunities.
Based on the presentation above, it is obvious that Business education could lead to the development of entrepreneurship in Nigeria and indeed all the countries of the world. This owes to the fact that based on the content of Business education; it has the potential of equipping the recipients with skills in Book-keeping/Accounting, Business management, Marketing, Business communication, Records management, etc which are all necessary for the promotion and survival of business enterprises. It is thus against this background that this research looks at the contribution of Business education in the economic development of Calabar Municipality of Cross River State.

1.2    Theoretical framework

          The theories adopted for this study was:
1.2.1    Frederic Bartlett's schemata theory (1886)

• Romiszowski’s skills learning theory (1981)

1.2.3  Entrepreneurial theory

1.2.1    Frederic Bartlett's schemata theory (1886)
          Schemata can be seen as an outline or a plan that was initially introduced into psychology and education by Bartlett in 1886. Bartlett conducted a series of studies on the recall of Native American Folktales, in which he noticed that many of the recalls were not accurate, but involved the replacement of unfamiliar information with something more familiar. The recalls also, included many inferences that went beyond the information given in the original text.
          Bartlett therefore, accounted for these findings by proposing that people have schemata, or unconscious mental structures, that represent an individual's generic knowledge about the world. The basis of this theory is that it is through schemata that old knowledge influences new information. The relevance of this theory to this work is that, students should activate relevant knowledge before application or exhibition of business studies skills.
          Therefore, workers are expected to employ appropriate schemata for effective comprehension. Employer are also expected to try to provide pre-requisite knowledge by initiating instruction from the simple to the complex. More attention should be given to teaching higher order comprehension processes. So, schemata theory in relation to this work focuses attention on the role knowledge plays in acquiring new knowledge and application of the knowledge to acquire entrepreneurial skills.
          This theory assisted the researcher to identify the content areas of the business education curriculum where the workers require a pre-knowledge as a bases to acquiring skills.


1.2.2   Alexander Romiszowski’s skills learning theory (1981)
          Skills refer to the neuro-muscular coordinated activities that lead to expert execution of psychomotor behaviours. This theory was propounded by Romiszowski (1981), who argued that skills schema has four categories namely: cognitive, psychomotor, reactive and interactive; each of these has the productive and the reproductive dimensions. Some examples of the cognitive skills of productive dimensions include the ability to find new solutions to existing problems, invent new procedures, or products, or write creatively. Their reproductive dimensions involve transfer of learning. Ability to speak and write grammatically good and correct sentences is a cognitive skill of reproductive category. Cognitive skills therefore has to do with the processes involved in logical thinking, problem solving, or ability to make judicious decisions based on coordinated factual and pointed information.
          The reactive skills category, on the other hand, has to do with the affective domain: self-control, habit formation, expression of attitudes and feelings. Their productive-and reproductive categories has to do with conditioned habits and personal control. The interactive skills deal with the ability to interrelate with others. Exhibition of acceptable social habits such as pleasant tones, ready smiles, compelling personality, leadership skills and persuasiveness or oracy are of the reproductive category.
          The skills schema sees the component of psychomotor to be concerned with physical activities and perceptual acuity. The reproductive dimensions of this skill component include skills such as running, writing, drawing, typing or changing gears in automobile. The productive dimensions on the other hand require large constructive combination of varied strategic physical skills such as driving, swimming, playing football or sewing. Technical skills required for arts, crafts, designing and general constructions belong to this category too. According to Gagne and Briggs (1979), the psychomotor category or the "motor skills" usually require some form of neuromuscular coordination involving the ability to apply different part of the body, including sometimes the vocal cords and throats.
Learning of skilled activities according to Alexander Romiszowski (1981:226) passes through four stages;
(i)       Perception of options available to the learner.
(ii)      Decision involving planning and choice of actions to be carried out;
(iii)     Action which is willingly and purposefully directed and
(iv)    Evaluation of perceived results, further actions and decisions.          
This theory helps the researcher to identify in the business education curriculum that requires skills development that will make enhance manpower development.


1.2.3 Entrepreneurial Theory (The entrepreneur as innovator)
This theory was propounded by Schumpeter (1954).  The theory states that the entrepreneur was not the risk bearer but the driving force in economic development.  The main idea was that change is not only coming from outside the economic but from within.  The change initiating force from within is the entrepreneur.
The theorist stressed on how the entrepreneur acts, and listed five categories of action that are covered by the concept of innovation:

1. The introduction of new goods or quality of goods.
2. The introduction of a new method of production.
3. The opening of a new market.
4. The utilization of some new source of supply of raw materials or intermediate goods.
5. The carrying out of some new organizational forms of the industries.

          Schumpeter (1954) believed that entrepreneurial traits are not teachable and only a small percentage of individuals within a population has these abilities.  But most important is the fact that the entrepreneur is motivated intrinsicly, and not by profits or luxury.  The behaviour of the entrepreneur can not be measured in ratio, can be irrational and sometimes pathological.  Also he compares the market to a sports game or even a boxing fight in which the entrepreneur has a strong will to succeed, motivated based on his dreams and the will to found his own kingdom.
This theory is relevant to this study because any rural dwellers that are innovative will be able to acquire those skills to help her produce and introduce new goods or quality goods into the market.  The introduction of new product in the market will lead to improvement in livelihood.

1.3    Statement of the Problem
Enabling citizens through education and skill enhancement is more critical today than at any other time. There is fairly well founded concern that in the next decade the country could find itself performing a difficult balancing act: catering to the needs of a significantly growing population while trying to find opportunities for a newly emerging workforce of youth that does not have marketable skills. However, no nation can be exempted from the sufferings of illiteracy and unemployment. The degree of suffering may be different but their existence in an economy is unavoidable and uncontrollable (Rena, 2004). Unless a nation knows the ways to manage this ailment in a proper way, it would crop up as a major problem showing up an economy to the external world as a bad example.
In development rating, Nigeria is classified as a developing nation. With a GDP per capita of $2,700 (2012 estimate), population below poverty line of 45% (2010 estimate) and unemployment rate of 24% (2011 estimate) Nigeria was ranked 151 out of 185 countries in the United Nations Development Index in 2004 (Wikipedia, 2012). According to the same report, Nigeria’s human capital is underdeveloped. The latest value of Human Development Index shows that Nigeria is ranked 156 among 187 countries. The economy is highly inefficient; the services and agricultural sectors account for 32 and 30 percent of employment respectively while manufacturing sector accounts for only 11 percent (Wikipedia, 2012).
The poor showing of Nigeria in development rating is not unconnected with the underdevelopment of her human capital since human capital development is linked to general development - economic, political or social. It then becomes imperative to look at the relationship between education and development, hence the rationale of the studies.

1.4     Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the contribution of Business education programme to the Economic development of Calabar Municipality of Cross River State. Specifically, the study intends to examine whether:

1. Business education skills acquired contribute to unemployment reduction in Nigeria.
2. Business education skills acquired promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

• Business education skills acquired reduce poverty in Nigeria.

1.5    Research questions
The following research questions guided the study

1. How does Business education skills acquired contribute to unemployment reduction in Nigeria?
2. To what extent does Business education skills acquired promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria?

• Does Business education skills acquired reduce poverty in Nigeria?

1.6    Hypotheses
The under listed null hypotheses were tested in this study at 0.05 level of significance.

1. There is no significant relationship between Business education skills and unemployment reduction in Nigeria.
2. There is no significant relationship between Business education skills and promotion of entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

• There is no significant relationship between Business education skills and poverty reduction in Nigeria.

1.7     Significance of the study
The study is significant for providing relevant information on the need to improve on higher education towards proper preparation of under graduates for the world of work.
It will also be a sensitisation document to undergraduates and anybody accesses it on the paramount importance of going for entrepreneurship skills development education programmes to acquire relevant skills that will enable one survive in a depressed economy.
The results of the study are also meant to create a high level of awareness among prospective graduates on the relevance of entrepreneurship education.
The study is also significant for articulating the need for education planners and Nigerian tertiary institutions' authorities (private and public) to direct effort at inculcating courses for entrepreneurship development skills into tertiary institutions' curricula and programmes.

1.8    Limitation of the study
          The major limitation of this study will be the poor attitude of the respondents towards responding to the questionnaire item due to mixed feelings. But this will not influence the outcome of the research since the researcher will assure the respondents of their utmost confidentiality of every information provided.
          Another limitation was time factor in  that the researcher had to combine the research with other academic activities.
1.9    Scope of the study
          This study restricted to all business education students in Department of  Business and Vocational studies, University of Calabar, Calabar Municipality of Cross River State. The study is also delimited to the variables under studies.

1.10  Definition of terms
Business education: business education involves teaching students the fundamental theories and processes of business.
Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the willingness to take risks and develop, organize and manage a business venture in a competitive global marketplace that is constantly evolving.
Poverty: Poverty is general scarcity, dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money
Unemployment: Unemployment is a phenomenon that occurs when a person who is actively searching for employment is unable to find work
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