Qualitative Study on Education for National Security and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward

The critical security crises confronting Nigeria are identified by different names, such as: kidnapping; Boko Haram insurgency; socio-economic agitations; boundary disputes; cultism; corruption; robbery, including pen robbery; looting of the national treasury; election crises; herdsmen brutality; and ethnic rivalry and religious pluralism. Failures in education pose distinct threats to national security. How can education promote security? Many conflicts arise from ignorance and manipulation of ethnic and religious identity. Education, not mere schooling, produces tolerant and civil citizens who are able to understand and live with people from different economic, religious, ethnic, cultural, and other backgrounds. Although it is widely acknowledged that education aids society in the development of new attitudes, values, knowledge, skill, and technique, little is said about how these values are actually developed and changed within individuals, how values may be communicated, and how educational processes within formal and non-formal curriculum may promote such value development. On this note, the paper focuses on the role of education in curbing environmental challenges for national security and sustainable development in Nigeria.

Keywords: Education, National Security, Challenges, Sustainable Development, Nigeria.