EVALUATION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN FOSTERING WOMEN EDUCATION IN WOMEN CENTRES IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.3         Background to the Study

The federal government of Nigeria has adopted education as an instrument per excellence for effective national development. Education can be viewed as the transmission of the values and accumulated knowledge of a society (Graham, 1991). Education is a fundamental instrument which differentiates a fully developed human being from other mammals. It is a criterion for measuring the mental, spiritual, political, and to some extent the material development of man (Aliyu, 2004). Education therefore is a necessary ingredient for a meaningful development for a man and woman as well as their society. Education in other words is the key to success of mankind. Thus, whoever wants to operate a happy and successful life in this world must acquire and make use of education.

For the life of mankind to be meaningful, purposeful, goal-oriented as well as living in peace and tranquility and to achieve societal concord, men and women must acquire qualitative, functional, goal oriented, useful, positively beneficial education (Lazuru, 1996). Education is the basis, the invariable index for the socio-political, economic, physical, moral, spiritual, scientific and technological development of man and his society. Based on what we discuss above it follows therefore that, women education is a must for a meaningful national development.

The concept of education, according to Musaazi (1986), includes all those activities within and outside the family that are consciously planned and organized to achieve specific educational objectives. It is only education that can prepare the young people for future membership of the society and active participation in its development. Education as could be deduced from the discussions made so far, is partly about primary socialization and as well as the process of imparting knowledge, skills and essentially

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about the preservation as well as expansion of knowledge for progress and development both at individual and groups and within the societal level (Dinar, 2009).

EVALUATION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN FOSTERING WOMEN EDUCATION IN WOMEN CENTRES IN NIGERIA