MITIGATING INSECURITY CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA

TRANSFORMATIVE ROLES OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

Abstract

The study investigated mitigating insecurity challenges in Nigeria: transformative roles of science education. Three research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was used. The sample consisted of 300 Science Education students randomly drawn out of three sampled tertiary institutions out of the twelve (12) higher institutions of learning in Anambra State, Nigeria. The instrument used for data collection was the questionnaire titled Questionnaire on the roles of science education in mitigating insecurity in Nigeria, which was subjected to validation by other experts and reliability by Pearson Product Correlation Coefficient, obtaining a value of .83. The data were collected electronically and subjected to analysis using mean and standard deviation to give answers to the research questions. The cut off mean value of 2.50 was used. The findings of the study revealed that political instability, ethnic and religious tensions, poverty, unemployment, corruption, lack of access to education, among others cause insecurity, and science education can mitigate the challenges through STEM education, promotion of critical thinking and problem- solving skills among Nigerian youth, reduction in the spread of misinformation and promotion transformative media literacy among Nigerian youth, as well as promoting entrepreneurship and job creation among Nigerian youth. The study therefore recommended that a revised science education curriculum focusing on critical thinking and directed towards mitigating insecurity in Nigeria should be considered. Also, this revised curriculum should be made available to schools at primary, secondary and tertiary education levels.