Skills Acquisition Required in Business Education Programme for Successful Business Operation in Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was aimed at examining the skill acquisition in Business Education programme required for successful business operation in Kogi State, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. Three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study comprised 76 lecturers in two Polytechnics and three colleges of education in Kogi State. Thirty-two questionnaire items relating to hard skills area, innovative skills area, and e-commerce skills area were developed and validated by panel of experts. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient measure of internal consistency was used to test the reliability value of the instrument. The results of the reliability test were as follows: 0.83, 0.89 and 0.86 respectively. The Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the three research questions. The t- test was used to test null hypotheses. The findings revealed that the three skills area of business education programme assessed, all were required for successful business operation. This implies that for business education graduates to successfully operate business, these skills should be possessed by them. The findings further show that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of lecturers in Polytechnics and Colleges of education regarding the skills area required for successful business operation except e-commerce skills area which the finding revealed a significant difference between the lecturers’ mean ratings. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that the government should adequately provide modern ICT facilities in business education resource centres, computer rooms and classrooms to enhance the teaching and learning of ICT skills among teachers and students of business education. There should be both short-term training and retraining packages for teachers to enhance their ICT skills and onward utilization for pedagogical purposes. This would help the teachers to keep abreast of new innovations in ICT based instructions and further inculcation of the hard skills to learners; Business education lecturers should ensure that innovative skills are thought through demonstration and practical to ensure that students graduate with relevant skills and competence to set up a business and manage it effectively in this era, and that business education curriculum be reviewed to include the e-commerce skills required by business graduates for successful business operation.