By Duru Kizito – 08131076477

Cities are, in many ways, like living organisms. Each citizen is like a cell, each institution is like an organ, and the entrepreneurs, like commuters responsible for connecting the parts of the city and moving goods and people from one place to another, is like the circulatory system. This system is so crucial to an organism that one single blockage can render the entire body incapacitated.


In Nigeria, a country of approximately 173.6 million people and the financial center of Africa, there is high need for entrepreneurs. The financial institutions are deeply flawed, and, like an unhealthy circulatory system, this causes specific problems that make the city less sustainable, safe, and inclusive. If the economic system is overhauled with a focus on expanding the entrepreneurship networks, it can address these specific problems and make progress toward achieving the goal of a stable economy.

By the past years, it has been discovered clearly that the government is hindering Entrepreneurship and this has created a big menace, as 70.5 percent of the country's population largely depend on white-collar jobs; reason being that the government isn't supportive.
With millions of job seekers on the streets of Nigeria, the dominance of the white-collar job as a means of livelihood poses a sustainability and safety threat that can be alleviated with an entrepreneurship network. The dependence on white-collar jobs for livelihood is so great that the biggest job seekers ever recorded in a test - 45,000 - which needed only 150 people occurred in Nigeria. This can make daily living very difficult.

My School, for example, provides at least 3,000 graduates every year. Considering that the population of the country continues to grow by the mmday, reliance on white-collar jobs is simply unsustainable and will lead to increased poverty and economic meltdown.


Furthermore, the millions of job-seekers in Nigeria constitute an immense threat to the economic sustainability of the country. They contribute to the increasing crime rate as "an idle man is the devil's workshop". Thus the dependence on graduate jobs must be reduced in order to promote sustainability and security, How? With an Entrepreneurship Programme.


A survey held by a Nigerian statistical organization revealed that 59 percent of Nigerians were of the view that the surest way to reduce poverty is to increase Entrepreneurship studies and skills acquisition. With the economy as frustrating as it is in Nigeria, many citizens would certainly be eager to undergo entrepreneurship programmes if they could, but they have no choice but to rely on white-collar jobs because the programmes don't have centres in their neighbourhoods.

The heavy dependence on white-collar jobs can be reduced by building more skill acquisition centres and adding entrepreneurship studies to the current academic curriculum and making it compulsory for both high schools and colleges, thereby making a more accessible network. If the Government of Nigeria takes these actions to expand the entrepreneurship programme for all, it could contribute to a safer and more sustainable future by minimizing the current reliance on government jobs for livelihood.
Not only would an introduction of entrepreneurship studies increase the economic growth and sustainability of the country but it would also address social inequality.
Since 2014, massive demonstrations that began as protests have rocked Nigeria about the minimum wage. These protests reflect the disparity between the rich and poor in terms of living.
For millions of Nigerian residents who could not get the much over hyped office jobs, has taken to taxi and keke driving to make ends meet, the richest of Nigerians, on the other hand, can afford good houses with their mouth watering salaries. This means that the rich and poor Nigerians are segregated from each other. Nigerian society is already marred by classism and social segregation, and this is reinforced by the segregated economic system.

These problems must be addressed for Nigeria to achieve the financial freedom of her citizens and
There is no better time and era to speak about entrepreneurship than now that the country is currently in recession. No doubt this is one of the worst times to be a Nigerian or live in the country. Prizes of goods have inflated tremendously and there seems to be no solution in sight. The government at the federal level seems incapacitated to provide solutions to the much raising economic situation of the country, Hence the pertinent need to embrace entrepreneurship. entrepreneurship is simply the ability of citizens to diversify their sources of income and equally the government’s ability to create a healthy and conducive environment upon which entrepreneurs would exploit to their benefit and profit. At a time when many are being relieved of their “office” duties and salaries slashed by government, one will not but agree that a single channel of income is not just advisable but risky as well.
It has become clear that an expansion to Nigeria's entrepreneurship network would make the country safer, more sustainable, and more inclusive. But because such an expansion would be so expensive, it is unlikely that the government would be willing to embark on such a project.

But there is one more solution that could see the proper investment come to light, and it is based on the systems in place in Tokyo and USA. Both Tokyo and USA have already taken her stand for Entrepreneurship's programmes and have made it compulsory in the teaching curriculum of the schools, and their need to turn a profit makes them some of the most efficient systems in the world. In a country like Nigeria whose government is inefficient and poorly funded compared to the governments of Tokyo and USA, privatization of the entrepreneurship programmes would allow a comprehensive expansion of the system to avoid becoming stuck in a hole of government bureaucracy. It would provide the incentive to expand the system and make it efficient enough to turn a profit. It could hold the solution to building the financial freedom which her citizens deserve.


An expansion of the Nigerian entrepreneurship system has the potential to alleviate some of the greatest obstacles to achieving the goal of financial freedom and empower the youths both educated and non-educated. If the country prioritizes the entrepreneurship sector, like I stated earlier, it will become more sustainable, more inclusive, and safer by working to reduce institutionalized classism and the dependence on white-collar jobs.

While the country considers the need to reform its entrepreneurship system to meet the desired needs of the citizens, it cannot meet the goal without reforming its financial system. Like in the human body, the country's well-being will always be at risk if its circulatory system is unhealthy, and, consequently, so will its efforts to achieve the goal of financial freedom for all. Therefore, Nigeria should be wise not to spend the next fifteen years adding temporary repairs to an ailing system, but building a healthy network of veins and arteries that will allow the country to thrive for decades to come.


Before I end this piece, I wish to say a big thank you to Comrade Precious Nwadike and the staff of Community Watchdog Newspapers for their support all through last year and hoping for a better 2017. Also, to my readers and fans, family and friend, I say a big thank you for being there for me, last year.

To my mentors, Barr. Kissinger, Okeoma Chidiebube, Lancelot Obiaku, Ihentuge sixtus, Nduji Destiny; the man that speaks for posterity, Obi bright; my big friend, FCC Jones; the pen merchant, etc. I am grateful for your moral support and advice, to Chief Silas Onyeiwu(PDP chairman of okigwe zone), sir, you are a good man and to Ogemdi Ibeawuchi (Ogidi Mbano) God will surely bless you for supporting my me financially. Boss, you are one in a million.
Finally , Special acknowledgement to my friend and coursemate, Favour Chukwuelesie for stimulating and dragging my thought to this topic and for helping to author some paragraphs.

Happy New productive Year.