Ngozi Muonagor Maryann
Department of Public Administration, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra state, Nigeria
Corresponding Author’s email: ngozi21@gmail.com
Abstract
The informal economy in Nigeria according to Hart (1973) is that sector of the economy that is not regulated by the state, operates outside formal legal frameworks and is characterized by low barriers to entry and minimal capital requirements. Employment creation itself refers to the process or strategy made to generate job opportunities either for a Sector in the economy, a locality, region, or for the overall economy in a country. The aims are to reduce the rate of unemployment, generate income, reduce poverty and in the long run, achieve sustainable development in the country. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the informal economies in Nigeria made up of artisans, street traders and vendors, small scale rural farmers, etc and employment creation. The theory linked to this study is the dualistic development theory propounded byHlaMyint in 1958. It was observed that the government recognizes the presence and benefits of those that belong to the informal economy in Nigeria and various programmes or strategies have been implemented to encourage the participants in the informal economy like the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) programme, the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and so on. The importance of this work is to identify those that belong to the informal economies, the roles they play and their importance to the national economy cum sustainable development in a bid to strengthen their existence towards employment creation.
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