Social Entrepreneurship, the State and National Development: A Viable Nexus for Addressing Social Challenges in a Developing Country Context

Abstract

Development denotes a society's continuous progress toward a better existence. Using secondary data and the Conflict/Elite theory, the paper argued that the goals of social entrepreneurs and the Nigerian State are linked and aimed at proffering solutions to societal problems. In practice, the interaction between these actors are lopsided which result from mistrust, flawed policy synergy on requisite social services provision and inadequate funding which have undermined successes of social welfare programmes in Nigeria. The paper findings indicate that bad leadership, poor governance and lack of social inclusion in public policy formulation poses challenge to promoting national/social entrepreneurship development and socioeconomic transformation in Nigeria. The paper concludes with the propositions that establishing mutual networking and cooperation between social entrepreneurs and the Nigeria state elites will engender positive impact toward the implementation of policies that target the people and engender poverty reduction, create employment opportunities and bridge income inequalities.