The Nigerian policy on education, value teaching and the quest for national sustainable development: reflections in Chinua Achebe and Olusegun Oladipo's writings

Abstract

The reality of achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Nigeria depends on the collective response to the urgent need to reassess the people's commitment to the Nigerian project; to refocus the national vision in line with the reality of the present state; and to reposition all energies in the path of building a population of individuals who are adequately prepared to take on developmental challenges with clarity of vision and sincerity of purpose. Therefore, this paper focused on the expected impact of education as the knowledge generating and knowledge transmitting industry on the collective construction and realization of individual and common aspirations. It assessed the value content of the National Policy on Education (NPE) 2013 and reflects on the writings of Chinua Achebe and Olusegun Oladipo as theoretical frameworks to propose a form of social reformism which heavily relies on the mental and moral dispositions of individuals as the primary and urgent concern of the Nigerian educational system, especially in the current socio-political and economic dispensation.