The Vice-Chancellor of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Prof. Oyedunni Arulogun, has urged Nigerian youths to embrace entrepreneurship and value creation as practical solutions to unemployment and drivers of sustainable national development.\n<\/p>\n
Arulogun stated this on Monday while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the university\u2019s 2026 Sustainability Project and Entrepreneurship Festival and Exhibition held at the institution.\n<\/p>\n
She said Nigeria\u2019s greatest asset remained its youthful population, stressing that young people possess enormous talents and potential that could be harnessed to transform the country\u2019s economy.\n<\/p>\n
According to her, the university\u2019s entrepreneurship initiative is designed to build resilience in students and empower them to contribute meaningfully to national development without seeking opportunities abroad.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cWhat informed this initiative is that we need to begin to think differently. Our greatest asset as a country is our young people. They have enormous potential and talents that can be used to drive sustainable development.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are doing today is our contribution to nation-building, to help young people discover their potential, build resilience and understand that they can succeed and make Nigeria great without leaving the shores of the country.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The Vice-Chancellor, however, cautioned against reducing entrepreneurship to vocational training, describing it instead as a mindset centred on solving problems and creating value.<\/p>\n
She explained that possessing technical skills alone was no longer sufficient, arguing that success depended on the ability to meet people\u2019s needs through innovation and quality service.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the greatest mistakes people make is to equate entrepreneurship with vocational training. They are different. Entrepreneurship is about a change of mindset.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not about whether I know how to make beads, wigs or sew clothes. The real question is: what value am I adding? People do not pay for certificates or skills alone; they pay for value.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many tailors with big shops who have no customers, while some professionals are highly sought after because of the value they provide. It is all about identifying needs and filling the gaps,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
Arulogun disclosed that graduating students would receive entrepreneurship certification in addition to their academic degrees, saying the initiative would better prepare them for self-employment and wealth creation.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe final-year students will receive a certificate to certify them as entrepreneurs in addition to the certificate for their degree programme. That is the direction Nigeria should be going,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
She urged students to see entrepreneurship as more than a compulsory academic requirement and embrace it as their personal contribution to Nigeria\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
Earlier in her opening remarks, the Director of the General Studies Directorate, Dr Lydia Chineyemba, said the exhibition reflected the institution\u2019s commitment to functional education by equipping students with practical skills alongside academic knowledge.\n<\/p>\n
She noted that the theme of this year\u2019s exhibition, Developing Innovative Solutions and Practical Skills for Nigeria\u2019s Sustainable Economy, underscored the need for graduates who could identify societal challenges, utilise available resources responsibly and create sustainable businesses.\n<\/p>\n
According to her, the exhibition featured student projects in Adire production, agripreneurship, artificial intelligence literacy, vibe coding and web application development, carpentry, catering, fashion design, photography, cinematography, wig artistry and other vocational fields.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe projects displayed today show that our students can contribute meaningfully to Nigeria\u2019s sustainable economy through the practical skills they have acquired.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exhibition represents more than the completion of a course requirement. It marks the beginning of new possibilities. Some of these projects may grow into viable businesses that create income and employment,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
Also speaking, the Coordinator of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development Studies, Dr Obaloluwa Oyewo, described entrepreneurship as a way of thinking rather than merely starting a business.\n<\/p>\n
He said the university\u2019s Sustainability Project was designed to move students beyond classroom theories by exposing them to practical business development and innovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we hear entrepreneurship, many people think only of buying and selling. But entrepreneurship is a way of thinking. It is about identifying problems where others see inconvenience and transforming ideas into value.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cProblems are not problems; they are the fuel for entrepreneurship. Waste can become wealth, environmental challenges can become sustainable businesses, innovation can create employment and ideas can grow into industries,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
Oyewo described the exhibition as \u201ca marketplace of ideas\u201d where students were expected to present, defend and refine their innovations before judges and visitors.\n<\/p>\n
Addressing the participating students, he encouraged them not to abandon their projects after the exhibition but to refine their products, register their businesses, seek mentors, apply for grants and participate in entrepreneurship competitions.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vice-Chancellor of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Prof. Oyedunni Arulogun, has urged Nigerian youths to embrace entrepreneurship and value…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1128424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3094],"tags":[51,13659,307112,3134,291397,1302,307113,101176,10787,16,297337,15,189638,67605],"class_list":["post-1128423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-business-development","tag-chrisland-university","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-entrepreneurship-nigeria","tag-innovation","tag-nigerian-youths","tag-skills-development","tag-sustainable-development","tag-uk","tag-unemployment-solutions","tag-united-kingdom","tag-value-creation","tag-youth-empowerment"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117033173802111814","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1128423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1128424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1128423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1128423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1128423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}