Mobilization of Rural Populations in Nigeria for Poverty Eradication/Alleviation under the United Nations Education 2030 Agenda: Role of Environmental Literacy Education (Published)
Nigeria’s extreme poverty rate, which has been soaring over time, reached its peak by June, 2018 when the country topped the list of 10 most extremely poor countries globally and in Africa and was consequently declared the ‘poverty capital of the world’. Available statistics indicate that rural populations in Nigeria have all along borne the brunt of the country’s poverty endemic. In September 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) designed to eliminate barriers to global sustainable development by 2030, focusing, especially, on African and other countries facing special developmental challenges. The first of these Goals, SDG 1, is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. Having made Education a key instrument for achievement of the SDGs, UNESCO, an agency of UN, developed a specific Education Curriculum Framework for SDG 1 which has suggested desirable environmental sustainability learning objectives, content and delivery processes. Successive Federal Governments of Nigeria adopted various strategies to mobilize the citizenry for poverty eradication/alleviation with no significant success. Notably, the strategies have been devoid of environmental education for the production of environmentally literate citizenry which many authorities, including UNESCO, have considered germane to effective environmental resources management and utilization necessary for socio-economic development and poverty eradication/alleviation. This paper was designed to crystallize the role of Environmental Literacy Education (ELE) in the mobilization of Nigeria’s rural populations for poverty eradication/alleviation within UNESCO’s Education 2030 Curriculum Framework for SDG 1.
Keywords: Environmental literacy education, Sustainable Development Goals, education 2030 agenda, mobilization strategies, poverty eradication/alleviation, rural populations in Nigeria
Use of Information and Communication Technology Systems for Delivery of Environmental Literacy Education in Nigeria: Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects (Published)
The purpose of this paper is to examine the opportunities, challenges and prospects of using Information and Communication Technology Systems (ICTS) for delivery of Environmental Literacy Education (ELE) in Nigeria. The paper begins by providing a brief but concise definition of Environmental Literacy (EL) and the attributes of an environmentally literate person. It goes on to establish the need for ELE in Nigeria, using empirical evidence that clearly reveals a high level of Environmental Illiteracy among all segments of the Nigerian citizenry and its adverse consequences of wide spread backwardness and poverty in the country. The paper also defines the concept of ICTS and their role in education with particular reference to Nigeria. After further clarification of the focus and content of Environmental Literacy (EL) as the foundation of ELE, and in view of the pervasiveness of the Environmental Illiteracy syndrome in Nigeria, the paper establishes that ELE needs to adopt Formal, Non-Formal, and Informal forms/modes of delivery in order to involve all concerned segments of the Nigerian population and illustrates, in an annotated manner, what ICTS are needed to deliver ELE in Nigeria. The opportunities, challenges and prospects of using the ICTS to deliver the ELE programmes are succinctly highlighted, conclusions drawn, and appropriate recommendation made, specifying that the Federal Government of Nigeria should harness features of the opportunities and prospects to minimize the challenges and promote use of ICTS for delivery of the highly needed ELE in Nigeria.
Keywords: Challenges, Environmental literacy education, Information and communication technology systems, environmental literacy, opportunities