ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION FOR POVERTY REDUCTION AMONG RETIREES IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA.

The study was embarked upon to find the entrepreneurship education for poverty reduction among retirees in Enugu State, Nigeria. Four specific objectives with four corresponding research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. Literature pertinent to the study was reviewed. The population for the study consisted of nine thousand, three hundred and eighty retirees in Enugu State. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique by balloting was used to select nine hundred and thirty-eight (938) respondents used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a forty-one (41) item questionnaire (EEPRRQ). Four experts from Adult Education and Science Education Departments, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, validated the instruments. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha method on 20 copies and a correlation co-efficient of.93 was obtained and was adjured reliable for embarking on the study. Nine hundred and thirty-eight copies of the questionnaires were administered to the respondents and returned dully filled, giving 100% return rate. Percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t – test statistics was used to test the null hypothesis at 0.5 level of significance. The result of the study showed that continuous training and re-training of retirees on computer; baking; catering services; livestock farming like rearing of pig, goat, sheep among others were some of the entrepreneurship education that can enhance technical skills for poverty reduction among retirees to a high extents. It was also found that entrepreneurship education which can enhance business management skills for poverty reduction to a high extent were ability to keep records of what customers buy and amount spent; provision of stock at the lowest possible cost to customers and packaging products and services properly to attract customers in the market. The challenges that can hinder entrepreneurship education for poverty reduction to a high extent were poor funding by government and non-governmental organization; poor enabling business environment; and inadequate teaching materials, equipment and infrastructural facilities. The study also found that establishing enough skill acquisition centers for retirees ; government giving loan with affordable interest to retired civil servants when needed and reducing government taxation on small scale business enterprise among others were some of the strategies for enhancing entrepreneurship education for poverty reduction among retirees to a high extent. There was no significant difference between the mean responses of male and female retirees on the extent to which entrepreneurship education can enhance technical skills and business management skills for poverty reduction in Enugu State. The major implication of the findings of this study is that if the entrepreneurship education programme is adopted by the retirees, the rate of poverty level of the retirees will be reduced thereby improving their economic status. Based on the findings, the major recommendations among others were that the retirement benefit system (pension and gratuity) should be properly designed by the pension board or unit; the working staff before retirement should be given opportunities by their employers for self development on their preferred retirement benefit system (pension and gratuity) should be properly designed; the operators of the system must be properly educated and the enforcement mechanism must be properly developed so that retirees can get their benefit without tears; and retirees should be exposed to various adjustment dimensions of retirement such as psychological, social and economic adjustment of retirement for proper adjustment