Empowering Nigerian Youths through Digital Entrepreneurship Skills: A Pathway to Employment Creation in Enugu State.

Abstract:

This study examined youth empowerment through digital entrepreneurship skills and its contribution to employment creation in Enugu State, with emphasis on programme accessibility, post-training support, and implementation challenges. A descriptive survey design was adopted, and data were collected using structured questionnaires distributed across the three senatorial zones of Enugu State. The sample size of 400 respondents was determined from a population of 4,690,100 people using Taro Yamane formula. Data were analysed using frequency, percentage, and mean score, while hypotheses were tested with regression analysis. The findings reveal that access to digital entrepreneurship empowerment programmes has a significant positive influence on employment creation, accounting for about 51% of the variation in youth employment outcomes. Post-training support, including mentorship, access to finance, incubation, and networking opportunities, was also found to significantly enhance employment creation outcomes, explaining approximately 47.5% of the observed variation. However, the effectiveness of these programmes is constrained by challenges such as inadequate funding, limited access to internet and digital devices, high training costs, poor infrastructure, and weak policy implementation, which jointly account for over 50% of the variation in programme effectiveness. The study concludes that digital entrepreneurship empowerment programmes constitute a viable strategy for reducing youth unemployment in Enugu State, provided that access is expanded, post-training support is strengthened, and structural barriers are addressed. The study recommends increased investment in digital infrastructure, subsidized training costs, strengthened post-training support mechanisms, and improved policy implementation to enhance the employment-generating potential of digital entrepreneurship initiatives.