PROMOTING QUALITY AND VALUES EDUCATION FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Quality higher education of any nation is transmittable to the developmental trajectories of that society. However, a stark juxtaposition of education and development in Nigeria is a travesty of education that ought to have transform African societies in terms of economic, social, political and technological development. It is apt to contextualize education as one key factor that underscores the reality of the Nigerian developmental agenda and its transformation and recognition as a developed status and is squarely the lynchpin on quality and values of the education system in producing a learned, competent and knowledgeable citizenry. Education is a critical means to meet the manpower requirements for rapid economic and technological growth. Indispensably, human resources have outsourced natural endowments as a stake or means for societal rapid economic and technological growth. It is germane in context that strategic resources of a nation come from intellectual power of the mind rather than natural resources that are dormant without manipulation and production. Therefore, the true development in the 21^st century contextually comes from empowering the minds of the people through quality education and values. This paper therefore examines quality tertiary education and its implementation as a panacea to the developmental challenges of Nigeria. It also tries to contextualize the nexus between innovative education and its domestication as a solution to nation’s developmental problems. Furthermore, the research paper was key in identifying key points militating against rapid development in the country through quality education. Suggestions were also made as solutions to the problems militating against quality and values tertiary education.