The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council has approved the first indigenous tools for learning entrepreneurship and skill acquisition in Nigeria at both primary and secondary schools.

This followed the push to revamp primary and secondary education in Nigeria and to make it more functional in preparing pupils with relevant skills and knowledge for productivity and to compete on the international stage.

A statement on Tuesday revealed that the approved entrepreneurship education tools were developed by Business Matters Incubators’ Catch Them Young Initiative. The initiative aims to groom young entrepreneurs and equip them with the skills and mindset needed for success in the business and global world.

BMI and its founder, Nnamdi Unachukwu, have been advocating a revamp of the current school curriculum to a more functional one. In May 2024, the organisation brought together several stakeholders in the education and business sectors to launch its BMI CTY Initiative, where its entrepreneurship learning tools were first displayed to the public. Following the launch, it continued its advocacy, to which the Ministry of Education and the government listened and are very committed to transforming the education sector and also bringing changes to the current school curriculum with the infusion of entrepreneurship and vocational studies.

The organisation also designed a Train the Trainer tool, which is a robust tool that will train the teachers in under one month and get them ready to teach the pupils in classes. It is also setting up a Skills Lab model that can be replicated and implemented across schools and communities where practical skills and vocations can be learnt by pupils, which supports the National Council on Education plan for every child upon graduation from primary and secondary school must have learnt two skills.

BMI also revealed that it is currently discussing with some state governments the implementation of entrepreneurship education in their various states.

“Entrepreneurship education in Nigeria’s basic and secondary school education will not only equip the pupils but will also have a long-term impact on the economy and the country at large; the era of massive unemployment will be over, as this is the only solution to Nigerian unemployment. The challenges of youths taking up criminality and other negative vices propelled by the get-money-quick syndrome due to a lack of jobs will be tackled because a solution has come that is sure to work if rightly encouraged and supported.

“Business Matters Incubators are open to state governments for public presentation, which it has embarked on; schools are also encouraged to start getting these tools for their use in including entrepreneurship education in their schools,” part of the statement read.

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