ASSESSMENT OF THE UNEMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE PROGRAMMES IN NIGERIAIN COLLABORATION WITH NIGERIA EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH IN A PANDEMIC ERA

Ossom Mmah Ossom & Egbita Ugbalu Attaochu

Abstract

The study was aimed at Assessing the Unemployment Initiative Programme in Collaboration with NERDC programme in Nigeria: role of educational research in a pandemic era. This was as a result of causes of failure of unemployment initiative programmes in Nigeria for the past years to date as unemployment situation reached an alarming proportion despite the existence of NERDC. Graduates are being turned out geometrically on yearly basis without corresponding capacity to provide employment opportunity; those that beneficial even faced myriads of problems ranging from insufficient loan to dearth of facilities. It is therefore pertinent to carry out an empirical assessment of these programmes. A survey design was adopted, the respondents of the study consisted 163 beneficiaries and 52 Academic Staff of NERDC.  Hence, the total population was 186. A structured questionnaire with five sections was used as instrument for data collection. The instrument was pilot tested on 31 respondents who were not part of the population for the study after being subjected to face validation by three experts. Four research questions and two hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance guided the study. Frequencies, percentages mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions.Hence, the reliability coefficient of the instrument was calculated to be 0.82 using Alpha Cronbach Formula. The study revealed among others that the beneficiaries lack adequate facilities for their operation; loans are not made available on time and no work plan on how to invest and manage the capital.

Keywords: Unemployment, programmes, Nigeria, Educational, Research, Pandemic