EDUCATION AND ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP: THE PANACEA TO POLITICAL APATHY AND INSECURITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Education is a critical driver of active citizenship and a sustainable remedy to political apathy and insecurity in Nigeria. 1999 was the year Nigeria began her promising journey to a new democratic dispensation. The Giant of Africa have witnessed insecurity in multiple phases ever since, from the Niger-Delta militants, the separatist agitations like Biafra, Boko Haram extremists, Herdsmen/Farmers clashes, Kidnappers, Bandits in the North and unknown gunmen in the Southeast. These challenges have in many ways, at one time or the other, disrupted the genuine efforts of government and adversely impeded the socio-economic and political lives of the people of Nigeria. Researchers have blamed the origin of these challenges to poor education, and bad leadership while others point fingers at the faulty foundation laid by the colonial authorities. However, using historical analysis and narrative methods on data mainly from primary, secondary and tertiary sources, this research revealed and concluded that a combination of all the above underpinned factors and other overlooked attributes like religious and cultural diversity constitute the interdependent variables that ought to be contained, if Nigeria must regain her pride of place as one-time global power from the African continent.