Crafting and Self-Reliance: The Role of Literature in Combating Unemployment and Fostering Artisanship

The quest to beat hunger, eradicate poverty, defeat massive unemployment, and promote self-reliability has driven many young Nigerian graduates into skills acquisitions. Promoting artisanship, especially in recent times, has become one of the ways of finding solutions to unemployment, driving the growth of the economy and eradicating poverty. By the year 2030, according to sustainable development goals (SDG), poverty will have been eradicated in all the nations of the world. Here in Nigeria, efforts are geared towards meeting the sustainable development goals through the introduction of various policies and programmes in different sectors of the polity. The introduction and emphasis on skills acquisition among the youth is one of the many programs leading to the accomplishment of the SDG. The paradigm shift to skills acquisition is driven by the desire to curb the growing rate of unemployment in Nigeria and in the long run eradicate poverty. While this crusade is ongoing, the literary world can be harnessed to champion this course. In this paper, we investigated the efficiency of literature as a tool for the promotion of artisanship and poverty eradication in society. Literature in its different forms has been identified by many as a contributor to national development. This paper further explores how literature contributes to the promotion of artisanship and poverty eradication. Data for the study were generated from Njere's novel, Ordinary Woman, and the poem 'Sleeping at five and Twenty' by Niyi Osundare. The data were described, interpreted, and explained to arrive at certain findings and recommendations. The study concluded that the issue of poverty could be adequately tackled through the promotion of artisanship in Nigeria and that Literature could be effectively deployed to support artisanship among the people. The study recommends that government should encourage literature and literary writers through the introduction of favorable policies and programs that would motivate the study of literature and the art of creative writing among other things. Keywords: Artisanship, Poverty Eradication, Literature, Skills Acquisition