TECHNOLOGY-BASED TAX REFORM: A STRATEGY FOR CURBING GRADUATE UNEMPLOYMENT IN EDO STATE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the concept of technology-based tax reform: a strategy for curbing graduate unemployment in Edo State. A structure questionnaire survey design was adopted with extensive reliance on primary data source and the E-view software was used for analyzing the data while the questionnaires were administered to chosen male and female in the three local government areas of Edo State, namely Orhionmwon L.G.A in Edo South Senatorial District, Esan West L.G.A in Edo Central Senatorial District and Owan West L.G.A in Edo North Senatorial district. A sample of 300 respondents (100 persons each from the 3 chosen L.G.A), were chosen for the research work. The stratified random sampling method was adopted in choosing the respondents. At the end, only two hundred and eight two (282) questionnaires of the self-administered questionnaires were successfully filed and retrieved from the study location. The hypothesis testing in this research work was done using regression analysis. The study is analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation matrix, and regression analysis. The study revealed the summary of the analyses and findings that technology tax reform has not only resulted in curbing, to a certain extent, graduates unemployment, but has also boosted it in Edo State. The study recommended that Edo State government should provide adequate functional skill acquisition programmes and centres to engage the non-graduates to avoid the spill-over to crime and try as much as possible to encourage entrepreneurship and vocational skills acquisition which will ultimately lead to self reliance after the training.