Repositioning Adult Education to Boost Socio-Economic Transformation in Nigeria through Inclusion of Environmental Literacy (Published)
Briefly put, Socio-Economic Transformation (SET) as a concept, refers to a process of sustainable improvement in individual (per-capita) and national (Gross Domestic Product) incomes resulting in improved standard of living and poverty reduction through intra- and inter-sectorial mobility of labour, following quality education and skills development. Using this definition and available statistics to assess the current state of SET in Nigeria, this paper has shown the country’s failure to achieve her related dreams, plans and visions over time. The contributions of Adult Education (AE) to SET in Nigeria have also been established in this paper to be limited by the virtual absence of environmental content in most AE programmes. Environmental Literacy (EL), on the other hand, has been shown to be imbued with significant environmental content related to SET, and which could remediate the said limitations of AE. Accordingly, the paper recommends repositioning of AE through inclusion of EL to boost Nigeria’s SET. The country’s National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education is recommended to pilot the repositioning process. Furthermore, the author of this paper has included here, a practicable diagrammatic model for possible adoption to facilitate the process of including EL in AE.
Keywords: Adult Education, Repositioning, Socio-Economic Transformation., environmental literacy