Abstract
The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which is “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all”, is a critical goal that is needed to be achieved for improved quality of life and the developmental advancement of any nation. The United Nations Sustainable Development reports identified some major challenges that can hinder Nigeria from achieving this goal: they include poor funding of education in the budgets, out-of-school-children, prolonged neglect of learning environments and facilities, among many others. We evaluated those identified critical factors of poor funding, poor school enrolment/out-of-school-children and poor school infrastructure using fishbone and problem tree analysis and also applied qualitative descriptive assessment of the 7 SDG 4 targets and the 3 enabling targets. Funding was identified as the key issue and it is also an underlying factor militating against the achievement of many other challenges. The other key challenge of poor school enrollment cannot be resolved with persisting insecurity and Almajiri problems in the northern parts of Nigeria. Without concerted effort to increase the budget for education and ensuring that allocated funds are not misappropriated, it will not be possible to achieve the SDG 4. This position is reinforced by the fact that Nigeria is currently ranked 159 out of 162 nations in our performance towards achieving the SDGs and also our not too good performance during the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era.
Introduction
The international community came together in 2015 and adopted the 17 SDGs as the gold standard which would guide all development and by which all development would henceforth be evaluated. These 17 SDGs were far reaching and touched on virtually all aspects of life in their import and coverage starting from poverty to partnership for development. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 which reads “Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all” is one of these transformative goals of the SDGs and focuses on equitable, inclusive and quality education both as an end but more importantly as dynamo and lever for global development and thus an enabler of the other SDGs.
Education is as old as human existence and the most important in the development of people (Nwachukwu, 2014). Education and continuous innovation have made it possible for humanity to advance from the stone-age to the industrial age and subsequently to the computer/internet age by providing the knowledge, competencies and skills that have led to the emergence of our digital world and the leap frogging of technological innovations and transformations. Our current global economy is a knowledge economy, driven and sustained by education and lifelong learning. Education and research largely allow subsequent endeavors to concentrate on how to improve on current standards in knowledge and technological advancement. Education provides everyone the knowledge to be a better person, to become a global citizen, to express oneself freely without psychological complexes, and to take informed risks. Education describes the process of receiving or giving organized instruction, especially in a formal institution of learning; usually, the school (Marinho, 2002). Scholars now recognize that education can also take place outside of school settings and this type of education is described as informal and non-formal education. Whether it is formal, informal or non-formal, education as a form of socialization is now recognized as the instrument par excellence to drive national development and growth. This is because education arms the recipient with skills, competencies and enables individuals to have the abilities to contribute to the socio-economic transformation of his/her society. Beyond such skills and competencies, education also confers positive transfer effects, known as externalities on societies. Such externalities include a drop in fertility rates, a better capacity to manage the environment in sustainable manners and the emergence of improved civic capacities. It is in recognition of these many benefits of education that development practitioners now see education as central to the attainment of the other SDGs.
There is now growing consensus that progress in the attainment of SDG 4, in meeting its seven targets and its three enablers plays critical roles in the sustainable development of any nation. Such emerging global consensus also underscores the importance of conducting critical analyses of factors in any nation that inhibit the pursuit and attainment of this goal and its target in their totality, as emerging evidence shows that most developing countries, especially in Sub Saharan Africa are falling behind in their pursuit of SDG 4. Understanding the factors that inhibit the attainment of SDG 4 as well as the interaction of these factors could yield useful insights into the general problems of the implementation of the SDGs in general and more importantly could also provide the basis for informed corrective actions that could propel a defaulting country to higher levels in sustainable development. This study used Nigeria as a case study because Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. Nigeria accounts for a very significant population of the African continent and indeed all the developing nations put together. It accounts for 2.64% of the total world’s population (http://www.worldometers.info/, 2019). The proposed study is to analyze these inhibitors to SDG 4 implementation and how they interact in a defined geo-political space, in this case Nigeria, a country that has defined education as an instrument par excellence for accelerating national development is thus a very useful exercise as its spin offs have immediate development relevance and applications to other aspects of development in Nigeria and in most developing nations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
Title Page – – – – – – – – – i
Approval Page – – – – – – – – ii
Certification – – – – – – – – – iii
Dedication – – – – – – – – – iv
Acknowledgements – – – – – – – v
Abstract – – – – – – – – – vi
List of Tables – – – – – – – – viii
Table of Contents – – – – – – – – ix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study – – – – – – 1
- Statement of the Problem – – – – – 4
- Objectives of the Study – – – – – – 5
- Research Questions – – – – – – 6
- Statement of Hypotheses – – – – – – 6
- Significance of the Study – – – – – 7
- Scope of the Study – – – – – – 7
- Limitations of the Study – – – – – – 7
PAGES
- Organization of the Study – – – – – 8
- Definition of Terms – – – – – – 9
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Conceptual Framework – – – – – 11
2.1.1 Concept of Sustainable Development Goals – – – 11
2.1.2 Effect of Quality education on the standard of
living of Nigerians – – – – – – 16
2.1.3 Effect of poverty level on the standard of living
of Nigerians – – – – – – – 18
2.1.4 Effect of gender equality on the standard of living
of Nigerians – – – – – – – 21
2.1.5 Effect of industry, innovation and infrastructure
on the standard of living of Nigerians – – – 24
2.1.6 The implications of sustainable development goals on
the standard of living of Nigerian – – – – 26
2.2 Theoretical Framework – – – – – 30
2.2.1 Green growth theory – – – – – – 30
2.2.2 Economic Theory – – – – – – 32
2.3 Empirical Framework – – – – – – 33
2.3.1 Prospects and challenges of achieving the SDGs
on environment – – – – – – 33
PAGES
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design – – – – – – – 42
3.2 Population of the Study – – – – – – 43
3.3 Sampling Technique – – – – – – 43
3.4 Sample Size – – – – – – – 44
3.4 Instrumentation – – – – – – – 44
3.5 Method of Data Analysis – – – – – 44
3.6 Problems of Data Collection – – – – – 46
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
- Analysis of Research Questions – – – – 47
- Research Question One – – – – – – 47
- Research Question Two – – – – – – 48
- Research Question Three – – – – – 49
- Research Question Four – – – – – – 50
- Test of Hypotheses – – – – – – 51
- Test of Hypothesis One – – – – – – 51
4.2.2 Test of Hypothesis Two – – – – – – 53
PAGES
4.2.3 Test of Hypothesis Three – – – – – 55
4.2.4 Test of Hypothesis Four – – – – – – 57
4.3 Discussion of Findings – – – – – 59
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of Findings – – – – – – 62
5.2 Conclusion – – – – – – – – 63
5.3 Recommendations – – – – – – – 63
References
Appendix I
Appendix II
Chart Analysis
LIST OF TABLES
PAGES
Table 3:1: Sample Selection – – – – – – – 44
Table 4:1:1 Response to Research Question One – – 47
Table 4:1:2: Responses to Research Question Two – – 48
Table 4:1:3: Responses to Research Question Three – – 49
Table 4:1:4: Responses to Research Question Four – – 50
Table 4:2:1A: Observed Frequency for Hypothesis One – 51
Table 4:2:1B: Expected Frequency for Hypothesis One – – 52
Table 4:2:1C: Comparison of observed with expected
Frequencies for Hypothesis One – – 52
Table 4:2:2A: Observed Frequency for Hypothesis Two – 53
Table 4:2:2B: Expected Frequency for Hypothesis Two – 54
Table 4:2:2C: Comparison of observed with expected
Frequencies for Hypothesis Two – – 54
Table 4:2:3A Observed Frequency for Hypothesis Three – 55
Table 4:2:3B Expected Frequency for Hypothesis Three – 56
Table 4:2:3C Comparison of observed with expected
Frequencies for Hypothesis Three – – 56
Table 4:2:4A Observed Frequency for Hypothesis Four – 57
Table 4:2:4B Expected Frequency for Hypothesis Four – 58
Table 4:2:4C Comparison of observed with expected
Frequencies for Hypothesis Four – – 58