Creativity and Innovation for Women Empowerment in Nigeria

Self empowerment through creativity and innovation has been one of the major outcries of late and most recently. The need to empower women through educational programmes and skills acquisition in this 21st century is highly critical and can never be over emphasized. Women empowerment enhances women’s capacity to influence and participate in taking decisions which directly or indirectly affect their lives and their total wellbeing. Invariably, for women to contribute and enhance their self-worth, family and the society at large, they need to be very creative and innovative in practical terms. Being creative and innovative entails exploring better ways of empowering women with skills and educational programmes for sustainable development. This paper therefore looks into the concept of creativity, innovation and empowerment. It discusses onthe efforts So far made in empowering Nigerian women with educational programmes and skills. It equally looks into the benefits of empowering Nigerian women with functional education programmes and skills. It as well discusses on the strategies to empower women with functional education programmes and skills. It also looks into the challenges of empowering Nigerian women with functional education programmes and skills. The paper concludes with recommendations on women empowerment through functional education programmes and skills acquisition.

Keywords – Creativity, Innovation, Empowerment, Functional education programmes, Skills acquisition, Entrepreneurship.