Enhancing National Unity Through Family-Life Education: Implications for Sustainable Peace in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria.

Abstract

The Family is the most basic social unit in today's society. Despite it's small size, it plays important roles in stabilizing and enhancing the growth of the adult members of the society and provide a context for the growth and development of the children. The changing nature of the role of the family, in recent time, demands for a re-equipping the family with new knowledge capable of repositioning it for the task of peace maintenance and national unity. This paper therefore examines the potentiality of family life education as a useful tool in the repositioning of the family for it's new roles in the society. In doing this, the authors explore the concept of family life education, it's aims and its capability of inculcating in the family, the needed knowledge and skills required to perform the role of bringing about and sustaining peace in the society with special focus on volatile society like the Niger-Delta Region. The paper concluded that there is urgent need for government and non-governmental organizations to redirect their focus and energy to the family through family life education. It is therefore suggested that the Federal Government of Nigeria should establish a national center for family life education for the re-engineering of the family.

IFE PsychologIA Vol. 16 (1) 2007: pp. 131-140