How to make a owl carousel with arrows instead of next previous

If you're using Owl Carousel 2, then you should use the following:

$(".category-wrapper").owlCarousel({
     items : 4,
     loop  : true,
     margin : 30,
     nav    : true,
     smartSpeed :900,
     navText : ["<i class='fa fa-chevron-left'></i>","<i class='fa fa-chevron-right'></i>"]
   });

Complete tutorial here

Demo link

JavaScript

$('.owl-carousel').owlCarousel({
    margin: 10,
    nav: true,
    navText:["<div class='nav-btn prev-slide'></div>","<div class='nav-btn next-slide'></div>"],
    responsive: {
        0: {
            items: 1
        },
        600: {
            items: 3
        },
        1000: {
            items: 5
        }
    }
});

CSS Style for navigation

.owl-carousel .nav-btn{
  height: 47px;
  position: absolute;
  width: 26px;
  cursor: pointer;
  top: 100px !important;
}

.owl-carousel .owl-prev.disabled,
.owl-carousel .owl-next.disabled{
pointer-events: none;
opacity: 0.2;
}

.owl-carousel .prev-slide{
  background: url(nav-icon.png) no-repeat scroll 0 0;
  left: -33px;
}
.owl-carousel .next-slide{
  background: url(nav-icon.png) no-repeat scroll -24px 0px;
  right: -33px;
}
.owl-carousel .prev-slide:hover{
 background-position: 0px -53px;
}
.owl-carousel .next-slide:hover{
background-position: -24px -53px;
}