THE ROLE OF EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN NATION BUILDING: A CASE STUDY OF EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

The study was aimed at examining the role of women’s education in nation building Egor local government area was taken as a case study, using a sample-sized population of women in Edo State to achieve the objectives of the researcher. Questionnaires were sensed on the sample size population of the women, which was fiy (50) in Edo State to obtain data. Results obtained indicated that women both young and old were encouraged to acquire education and has this reduced the rate of illiteracy and that the women has been able to help in the development of the economic especially in the areas of health social efficiency as well as the industrial sector as their contribution to nation building. It was also found that the women were not however properly mobilized for proper action by the government and that the level of public awareness to get the women acquainted needed to be increased, it was also noted that some of the hindrance to women’s education was due to teenage pregnancy religious belief acute poverty, early marriage etc. in addition to that, it was also evident that women’s education have been playing a vital role in nation building and women have developed a new love for education and they can no longer be separated. Conclusively, the roles played by the women in nation building cannot be ignored and should not be denied them as their efforts and contributions also determine to a great extent the level of growth of the nation. To become a developed economic, both men and women folks have a great role to play simultaneously.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

It is no longer in doubt that women play very significant role in the development process on human society (IES). Recently, the need and importance of women education has come on the increase most countries, especially developing countries have stated create an avenue through women would be educated. The world as a whole have also begin to recognize women’s education and how important it has become this evolves March 8th of the first world conference was to examine the changes for women in their bid to take their place side by side with the men and nation building. In Nigeria particularly, education is valued so much that it is looked upon as a prerequisite for all the short comings of society as well as the surest means for nation building. According to Omegbe (1998) “education itself is the development of an individual through training, transmission of what is worth while to the point that he is able to fit into his environment and contribute to the best of his ability, to the well being of the society. The national policy on education stated categorically that; the Federal Government of Nigeria has adopted education as an instrument per excellent for effective nation building, because of this belief, education has been pursed single-mindedly in most part of Nigeria. It should be noted, that women account for roughly half of the world’s population, perform the third of the hours worked, receive one tenth of the worlds income and have less than one hundredth of the worlds properly registered in his name.

According to the World Bank Report (1996) it gave us the population of women, that women makes up a higher percentage of the rural populace out of about 70% of Nigeria’s rural populace, women account 50% hence, they bear the brunt of the difficulties of rural life. In a similar vein Okukpon (1994) “women constitute more than half of the adult population. They produce 80% of the food requirement and play a major role in the handling of food and maintenance of the home. The high rate of non participation amongst women is alarming and there is need to create awareness on the danger for not participating or playing active role in nation building. Most states in Nigeria including Edo State have shown considerable interest in women education project for enhancing women’s productivity towards nation building.