1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Unemployment, both of the educated and the uneducated manpower, has become one of the most topical and thorny issues in contemporary Nigeria. The unemployment situation has changed from previous position marked by prolonged period of unemployment and under-employment, to one which graduates of tertiary institution have to normally wait for a long time before getting a job.

          Nigeria has one of the highest levels of youth unemployment in the world (60-65%) (Nigeria Federal ministry of Labour and productivity report, 2008) these are mostly young adult that have graduated from universities and polytechnics or institutions of higher learning. Available estimates show that unemployed consist of about 1.6 million persons, mostly young youths. In addition to this number, about 3.8 million others are certificate carrying youth that have no formal education, or have completed primary or secondary school or dropped out from tertiary institution all of which are poured into an already saturated labour market (Nigeria Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Report, 2008).

          Youth unemployment in Nigeria has become one of the most serious socio-economic problems confronting the country. Many of the youth are not productive and have actually been reduced to petty traders and smugglers in many instances, the growth in the phenomenon of trafficking in persons and child labour can be attributed to poverty and joblessness among the youth. For a few who are able to find their way out of the country to work in other countries, their departure has contributed in depleting the quality of human capital resources in the country. The magnitude of this problem can be appreciated if accurate data in the number of jobless young people roaming the streets of Nigeria cities, towns and villages is available. Unfortunately, accurate statistics on youth unemployment are inadequate.

          Unemployment has affected youth in Nigeria who come from a broad spectrum of socio-economic backgrounds including the well and less well educated though more especially those from low income backgrounds and limited education (Oviawe,2010). Given the inadequacy of employment opportunities and consequently the uncertain future, young Nigerians are forced to engage in unorthodox livelihoods while other engage in casual work, which is highly regular.

          The menacing problem of youth unemployment spurred the Nigeria government into developing a policy framework for youth entrepreneurship education. This initiative resulted in the birth of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in 1986 and the Work for Yourself Programs (WFYP) in 1987, it is against this backdrop that the research is going to use NDE as entrepreneurial skill programs aimed at reducing youth unemployment in Ebonyi state.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

          Unemployment in Nigeria looms large and its concomitant consequences are alarming, daring especially as youths are the worst hit. Going by the socio-economic problems posed by unemployment in Nigeria, an effort has been made by federal government in addressing scourge of youth unemployment by establishing National Directorate of Employment which objectives as the NDE programmes are as follows, youth employment and vocational skill development programme, small scale industries and graduate employment programmes, Agricultural development programmes, and special public works employment. These programmes of National Directorate of Employment were aimed at reducing youth unemployment in Nigeria. Despite the efforts of National Directorate of Employment aimed at reducing youth unemployment the organization is faced with the following problems:

1)   Undue delay by some participant banks in disbursing loans.

2)   Lack of interest by beneficiaries.

3)   Corruption.

4)   Poor funding by the federal government.                   

1.3       Objectives of the Study

          The study has the broad aim of discovering the impact of Ebonyi state entrepreneurship skill programmes aimed at reducing youth employment in Ebonyi state. But the specific objectives include:

(1)          To determine if undue delay by some participant banks in disbursing loans to beneficiaries has affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment in Ebonyi state.

(2)         To determine if lack of interest of beneficiaries has affected NDE programmes in reducing unemployment.

(3)         To find out whether corruption has affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment.

(4)         To find out if poor funding by the federal government has affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment.

1.4       Research Questions

          In order to justify the above problems the following research questions were used to guide this research

(1) Has undue delay by some participant banks in disbursing loans to beneficiaries affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment in Ebonyi state?

(2) Has lack of interest by beneficiaries affected NDE programmes in reducing youth employment

(3) Has corruption affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment?

(4) Has poor funding by the federal government affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth employment?

1.5       Research Hypotheses

          The following hypotheses were formulated for this study:

1.  H_o: Undue delay by some participant bank in disbursing loans to beneficiaries has not affected NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment.

H₁: Undue delay by some participant bank in disbursing loans to    beneficiaries has affected NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment.

2.   H₀: Lack of interest by beneficiaries has not affected NDE programmes in  reducing youth unemployment.

H₁: Lack of interest by beneficiaries has affected NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment

3.    H_o: Corruption has not affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment.

H₁: Corruption has affected the NDE programmes in reducing youth unemployment.

4.    H₀: Poor funding by the federal government has not affected the NDE       programmes in reducing unemployment.

       H₁: Poor funding by the federal government has affected the NDE    programmes        in reducing unemployment.

1.6       Significance of the Study

          The term significance of the study refers to the individuals or groups, a particular research, it conveys a special meaning or importance from the way it affects their attitude (Odo, 1992).

          In view of the above assertion the research will therefore be of immense benefits to the government who will see the urgent need to provide adequate resource for National Directorate of Employment in order to adequately train the youth in entrepreneurship development skills  aimed at reducing youth unemployment .

          It will help the youth to embrace service provided by National Directorate of Employment which will equip the youth to be self reliance as well as contributing positively to National development and as well reduce youth restiveness.

          This research work will be of great benefit to the management of the National Directorate of Employment who will see the need to make the judicious use of fund allocated to them in order to reduce youth unemployment.

          Finally this work will benefit the researcher who is still an undergraduate. The work will help the researcher to have the interest to enroll in National Directorate of Employment programmes aimed at becoming self reliance instead.

1.7       Scope of the Study 

          This study covers National Directorate of employment in Ebonyi state. It focused on the impact of Ebonyi state Entrepreneurship skill development aimed at reducing youth unemployment in Ebonyi State.

1.8       Limitation of the Study

      Some of the difficulties, which the research encountered in the course of this study, are discussed below:

Shortage of fund was one of the problems encountered. The financial involvement of the work was heavy, such expenses are stationeries, photocopying, typing, visiting of libraries and internet cost.

          High cost of transportation to travel to place of relevance of the study was also a problem.

          Finally the work was hindered by inadequacy of reference material needed to review the literature review. This restrained the efforts in getting necessary information needed to improve this work.

1.9       Definition of Terms/Operationalization of Key Concepts

Unemployment: It is a situation where people who are willing and capable of working are unable to find suitable paid employment.                 Entrepreneurship: It the willingness and ability of an individual to seek out investment opportunities in an enterprise successfully based on identified opportunities.           

Youth: Youth is a young person especially a young man or boy; it refers to young people collectively.

Youth unemployment: It is the conglomerate of youth with diverse background, willing and able to work, but can not find any.

NDE: It is a programme of government design and implemented to combat mass unemployment in Nigeria.

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