Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurial Programmes as Predictors of Community Development in Nigeria

Women constitute more than half of the entire population of the world, who are socially, economically, and politically marginalized. The economic burden placed on women requires alternative source of income for them to gain financial freedom and contribute immensely to socio-economic development of their society. Hence, the need for women empowerment and entrepreneurial programmes for development of communities in Nigeria.This study examines women empowerment and entrepreneurial programmes as predictors of community development in Nigeria. Five research questions were raised to guide the study. A self-structured questionnaire was the instrument used to elicit information from the respondents. One hundred and twenty (120) respondents were randomly sampled. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Finding of the study revealed that agro-business, catering services, mobile phones repairs and sales, food processing, frozen food and cooking gas are types of entrepreneurial programmes that exist in the studied area. It was revealed that women actively participate in empowerment and entrepreneurial programmes. The study revealed that lack of awareness, poor funding, poverty, illiteracy and care-free attitude undermine empowerment and entrepreneurial programmes among women. The study therefore recommended that government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should support women participating in empowerment and entrepreneurial programmes with provision of basic amenities and adequate funding to enhance women’s socio economic development. The study concluded that women empowerment and entrepreneurial programmes is an indispensable tools of gaining financial freedom for actualizing women and community development in Nigeria.