Awakening Graduates' Potential in Nigeria through Entrepreneurship Programmes of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)

Entrepreneurship education has been the new normal in different countries to address unemployment all over the world. This is because entrepreneurship serves as a potent rule to solve a myriad of problems in society. This paper, therefore, examines the relationship between the entrepreneurship programme of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) set up by the Federal Government of Nigeria on awakening graduate potential in the country. The study used the descriptive survey research design with a sample of 434 respondents who were selected using the simple random sampling technique. The data for the study was collected using a self-designed instrument titled the Awakening Graduate Potential scale. The instrument was structured on a four-point modified Likert-type scale. The data was collected using two trained research assistants. Data collected was analysed using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Statistics. Findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development on the awakening the hidden potentials of Nigerian graduates with 0.042, with a p-value of 0.552. It also shows that there was a significant relationship between community development service and awakening the hidden potentials of Nigerian graduates with 0.112, with a p value of 0.674. Based on these findings, the study, therefore, recommends that the department in charge of skills acquisition and entrepreneurship should endeavour to engage professional facilitators who will impart the required skills and knowledge to the corps member. The youth service year is a period that requires its members to be patriotic. Corps members should take the chance to set their goals, be good lag flier, and integrate with the community they get deployed to. Youth corps should endeavour to accept, with utmost faith and humility, their state of deployment to achieve the objectives of the NYSC.