Citizenship Education For National Consciousness And Sustainable Development In Nigeria: Islamic Perspective

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in citizenship education since the early 1990s which led to concern widely discussed in national and international debates and conferences by governments, international organizations, and the civil community alike. Indeed, this interest in citizenship education in the Western world has been fostered by huge transformations, including the challenges of increasing multicultural societies, the breakdown of moral fabric, the democratic deficit, the decline of volunteerism in community activities, and also the changing role of women. It is, therefore, seen as a means of reshaping citizenship through citizenship education with religion and culture as essential for human freedom and peace worldwide. In Nigeria, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education has taken necessary steps in ensuring that citizen education is taught right from the primary schools to the tertiary institutions for better understanding, assimilation, and comprehension of civic/citizenship education to enhance meaningful participation and peaceful co-existence in Nigeria. However, it has been observed that the mode of evaluation on the subject matter is a pen-and-paper system in which in most cases, students respond to questions after memorizing concepts. This negatively impacts the classroom teachings in such a way that, after examination, students easily forget everything they have learned and hence, portrays gross deficiency in the system. It is on this premise that, this paper examined the concept of citizenship and citizenship education from the Islamic perspective. A descriptive and historical survey was used to collect information in addition to the utilization of both primary and secondary sources of information. The paper, therefore, recommends among others that the Nigerian government could borrow a leaf from the practical approaches of Islamic history for better national consciousness and sustainable development in Nigeria.