Skip to main content

DEVELOPING THE TOTAL PERSON THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE ROLE OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES Sunday T. Afangideh and Ngozi. L .Nwoko Department of Education Management


International Journal of Innovations in Sustainable Development, Volume 7, Number 2, 2016
ISSN: 2026-801X

DEVELOPING THE TOTAL PERSON THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE ROLE OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES


Sunday T. Afangideh and Ngozi. L .Nwoko
Department of Education Management
          Faculty of Education, Universities of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Email:sunny_afangideh@yahoo.com, marlin@yahoo.com


ABSTRACT
Locally, nationally and internationally, Universities are seen as centres of academic excellence that pre-occupy themselves with teaching, research and service to their communities. Through their teachings, researches and community service efforts, universities should be able to produce individuals who can contribute to societal development. Much more than what it used to be, societies have gone beyond complexities. In Nigeria, it appears that her nationals have to grapple with problems of various dimensions with serious personal and national life threatening implications. Based on these, universities need to take a second look at their curricula, so that their teachings, researches and community service efforts would provide answers to current problems of the Nigerian society. This paper presents information on what Nigerian Universities should teach to produce the total persons who can contribute to the development of the nation.
Key words: Development, Total person, Higher Education, Nigerian Universities.

Introduction
Without any iota of omission or commission, the 21st century began on January 01, 2000. Before this date, individuals, groups, organizations, government, blocs and even international agencies had set and adopted targets in respect of feats they expected to achieve. Many entities, sang ‘health for all by the year 2000’, very many scientific breakthroughs had been targeted apart from the attainment of maximum literacy rate, and wiping away crimes and social vices or maladies before the year 2000. These went on and on at various stagesto the extent that the pen manipulators (members of the Fifth Estate of the realm) christened the year 2000 as the ‘magic year’. To mention that these various entities never made arrangements for the attainment of the lofty goals may be seen as an understatement, as various deliberate and in deliberate, planned and unplanned efforts (at least in the print and broadcast media) were made to see to the actualization of these dreams. However , whether these  dreams have come true, or not 17 years into the 21st century are issues to be handled chiefly by those who were adults, at least, a decade before the magic year and by the evaluation of evidences that are found everywhere, compared to what obtained then.

The 21st Century in Perspective 
In presenting the introductory analogy, it is pertinent to mention that, the scholars have the Nigerian environment in mind and that not much differences seem to exist between conditions in Nigeria and other third world nations, nor with other nations of the world with superior socio-economic ratings. Just as the evaluation of the attainment of the dreams of the 21st century does not constitute the thesis of this discourse, it is pertinent to mention that the magic century has been on for the past 17 years and that its make up leaves much to be desired. However, before presenting the introductory comments on the 21st century, the scholars feel constrained to present an introducing comments from Oluwuo and Afangideh (2014), in their contributions on cross-borders researches in African higher education in the context of social problems. The scholars state thus;
From Johanesburg in South Africa to
Cairo in Egypt, Darka in Senegal to
Mogadishu in Somalia, Lagos in
Nigeria to Rabat in Morocco and Malabo
Developing the Total Person through Higher Education in the 21st Century: The Challenges before Nigerian Universities

in Equatorial Guinea to Antananarivein
Madagasca, Africans are trapped and
          emersed in webs of social problems of varying dimensions,
          Unprecedented in human history.(p.11)

The scholars further that, numerous other groups of people of non-African descents, in other continents of the world, also suffer from some debilitating conditions, depending on the dictates of their environments.
The presentation by the scholars paints a pitiable state of the African continent, in this  present century and if an update is made on the state of things, since 2011, when the presentations were made, it would appear as if Africa and Nigeria in particular has been erased from the map of humanity. To say the least, this is where we have found ourselves.
In making the presentation proper on the features of the 21st century society, it becomes expedientthat a balanced view be presented. This is necessary to avoid presentations tilted towards negativities. This is necessary because the 21st century is not entirely bad in colouration but that it is a combination of the good, the bad and the ugly. On the aspect of positivity, the 21st century has provided a fertile environment for globalization, that has turned the international society into a small village, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), knowledge explosion, the global phenomenon, advances in science and technology that have impacted on various aspects of human endeavors, among them  the professions, vocations, careers and the major academics fields, advances in international diplomacy, among others (Oluwuo & Afangideh, 2011; Onyene, 2013; Anya, 2013; Girigiri; 2008).
The foregoing positive features of the 21st century to mention a few, have made life betterfor people and cause improvements in international connectivity for the benefit of man and society. It is no wonder it is described by scholars as the magic century.
Arguably, the 21st century has not fared so well, as there are pockets of natural, artificial and socially induced absurdities. These despicable phenomena include terrorism, insecurity, unemployment, drug menace, war, rising rate of illiteracy, youths who lack skills and failed leadership (Afangideh & Nwideeduh, 2014; Babalola, 2009; Oluwuo &Afangideh, 2011). Other problematic features include international distrust, misguided utterances, unnecessary rivalry, international confrontations, militancy, laziness, health scourges, cyber crime, mutual suspicion and failed followership (Magstadt, 2006; Nnoli,1980; Akpakpan, nd).  Also, apparentlyto present what may be seen as a comprehensive list, Afangideh and Nwideeduh (2014) list the characteristic features of the 21st century to include terrorism, kidnappings, a culture of hatred, inter-ethnic rivalry, climate change occasioned by the destruction of the oxone layer of the atmosphere, the Human Immuno Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( HIV/ AIDS) scourge,  the ebola virus, armed robbery, armed conflicts and cyber crimes. An analysis on the foregoing tends to show that the problems of the 21st century fit  into Marcionis (2009) categorization of social problems. For the scholar, the problems of the 21st century are problems of social inequalities, technology and environmental problems of deviance, conformity and well being,problems of social institutions and global problems.

Requirements for Survival in the 21st century
          In the foregoing paragraphs, efforts were made to present the picture of the 21st century as perceived by the writers. A synthesis on the conceptions presents what may be seen as a frightening picture of the era. Be that as it may, human beings cannot run away from society, since society has become a product of their own imagination and making deliberately and indeliberately.
Consequently, humans need to initiate and develop systems and strategies that can surmount the challenges of the 21st century and still remain in circulation. This becomes expedient as a refusal may lead to human extinction from the surface of the earth.

International Journal of Innovations in Sustainable Development, Volume 7, Number 2, 2016

          Whether for the perceived positivities or negativities of the 21st century, the individual who can live in a globalized world, thinkered with by advances in science and technology, immersed in Information and Communication Technology and by extension information overload and knowledge explosion and also souring through natural and man-made problems, needs general education, information skills and orientation. The person should be gifted or learned in what it takes to survive in a society that is changing on a daily basis
The individual who can survive in the 21st century needs general information, education and orientation in entrepreneurial education, skill development, communication skills, diplomacy, religious tolerance, peace education, security awareness, leadership skills, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, international understanding and healthy competition. The list appears to be endless.

The Survivors of the 21st Century Society
So far, much of the presentations in this discourse have centered on the 21st century and the requirements for survival to the neglect of who can make it in the face of the perceived positive and negative challenges of the millennium. Consequently, this section of the discussion is a deliberate presentation on who has the requirements for survival in the 21stcentury society. Borrowing a leaf from the requirements for survival as presented in the preceding paragraphs, it is deductible that any individual who has general information, education, skills and orientation on the major and minor milestones of the 21st century, can survive and eke a living out of the century. In summary, it suggests that the individual must be a total person.  Dennis (2006),defines the total person as a person who is prepared to face the challenges of life, because he or she has the values, discipline, knowledge, preparedness, mentally, emotionally and physically healthy person. For Answers.com (2016), the total person is one who is prepared to face the challenges in life. This view is premised on the fact that a person’s environment means everything around him or her and may have influenced the presentation by Bullyxtreme (2016), that the total person concept insures that our wheel of life roles evenly and that we pay attention to all the six areas of life. These six areas of life are family and home, finance and career, physical and health, spiritual and ethical, mental and educational and social and cultural (Bullyxtreme, 2016; Dennis; 2006, Quizlet, 2016).
An analysis on the presentations from Dennis, Bullyxtreme and Quizlet shows that the three sources are united in the fact that the total person should be able to summon courage to face the challenges of life in his immediate and further environments and that he or she needs to be armed with certain variables, to be able to face the challenges. These variables are what the present writers refer to as general information, education, skills and orientation on the characteristics nature of the society.

Universities as Makers of the Total Person
Individuals live in organized societies. They are borne in medical institutions, nursed in the homes, educated in schools, take care of their health needs in hospitals, get close to their creators in religious organizations like churches, mosques and shrines, seek redress for wrongs done to them by other people in courts and are laid to rest in churches, irrespective of the nature and type. This analogy has been corroborated by Etzioni ( as cited in Haralambos & Heald, 2001)
Following from the foregoing presentations, it naturally flows that man gets education from schools or technically put, from educational institutions. In educational systems and institutions, clients are introduced and made to internalize the values of societies from one generation to another. In the Nigerian context, education has three levels. These are the basic, post basic and tertiary levels of education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2013). The basic level of education with its accompanying attachment slays the foundation for all educational pursuits whether at the post basic or tertiary. The post basic acts a bridge between the basic and the tertiary, apart from serving as the preparatory ground for tertiary education, while the tertiary level of education takes care of teaching, research and community service apart from what modern scholars prefer to call’ incidental functions’.
Developing the Total Person through Higher Education in the 21st Century: The Challenges before Nigerian Universities

Agreed that society shifts the responsibility of educating its younger and needy folks to educational institutions, it does not require excessive brain storming to arrive at the truism that the responsibility of producing the total person lies before the schools and in line with the thesis of this discourse, it lies before the tertiary education system, which the present writers prefer to call higher education. In the Nigerian environment, higher educational institutions include the universities, colleges of education, polytechnics, and monotechnics and allied institutions. In this discourse, the focus is on universities. Universities are learning institutions that pre-occupy themselves with the job of teaching, research and community services. Their basic functions constitute what Obamanu (as cited in Nwideeduh & Afangideh, 2011) refers to as the tripartite functions of the universities. However, scholars have added other functions to universities and typify these functions as incidental functions (Nwideeduh&Afangideh, 2010; Afangideh & Aleru, 2013; Afangideh & Kpee, 2010). As part of their teaching, research and community services endeavours, they use and work with humans, who must be developed for their existence and that of the society in general. This is where the production of the total person connects the universities. In presenting the discussion on universities’ roles in producing the total person, it is pertinent to reiterate the contributions of a renowned Nigerian educational management expert and administrator, Professor Joel Babatunde Babalola. Babalola (2009) observes that Nigerian Universities seem to be producing ‘tankers’ instead of ‘thinkers’. To the scholar, products from Nigerian universities are better as verbatim thinkers, who can only regurgitate what they had been taught and when taken outside their comfort zones, they fumble. Products from school systems who behave in these ways cannot fit into the total person concept.
Further to the foregoing, the universities have much to do, if they must produce the total persons for human and societal consumption. This must be done with the nature and characteristics of the 21st century in mind. Therefore, the proceeding section of this discourse centers on what the universities should do.
Firstly, it has been observed that unemployment is one of the banes of the 21st century society, universities must teach and make practical entrepreneurial studies. This must be done with the intention to help their products take risk (good risks) and acquire skills that would help them survive in societies emerged in unemployment.
Secondly, universities must teach their students communication skills. These skills include, writing,speaking,sending, recieving and listening.In doing these, their products would be equipped to flow in an era where there is information overload, knowledge explosion and where there is wider interpersonal, inter-group, inter-organizational and international connectivity.
Another very important thing universities must do is to teach their students diplomacy. Diplomacy is the normal and non-violent process of negotiation, trade and cultural interaction between and among sovereign nations (Magstadt,2006).This they have to do by reviewing their citizenship education, social studies and social studies curricular.
Nigerian universities must teach religious tolerance. This is so because the total person should be able to accept that we live and operate in diversity in terms of religion. In Nigeria, there are basically three main religious groups. These are Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religions. These groups hold onto different beliefs, but have the heaven as the goal post, through practising different forms of worship. It is not an understatement that Bornu State in North East Nigeria is otherwise known as the Home of Peace and has enjoyed this description since its creation. Where is the peace? Rivers State is called Garden City and Treasure Base of the Nation. Where are the gardens and treasures? Lagos State has been existing as the ‘Centre of Excellence’ Excellence in what? Kidnappings and armed banditory? Plateau is the Home of Tourism, only a trial will convince you. These are indicators that all is not well with us. There is need for the teaching of peace education in our universities, so our children will be taught how to co-exist with others. Abraham, Durosaro, Kpee, Edemenang, Okon and Odiba (2014) were therefore doing the needful by dedicating their professional association book to the management and planning of education for peace in Nigeria.

International Journal of Innovations in Sustainable Development, Volume 7, Number 2, 2016

While surfing the International Network, the lead author once stumbled on the information that children in Egyptian Primary schools are taught security education. This is not unconnected with the height of insecurity in the Arabian World arising from the activities of Islamist terrorists.  If the truth must be reported, conditions such as these have become the portion of Nigeria. There are problems of kidnappings, armed robbery, rape, arson, pipeline vandalism, drug addiction, trafficking, piracy,among others. The list is endless Nigerian Universities students should be taught to be conscious of those who perpetuate these menace. This, therefore call for security instructions as done in Civil Service Training Centers. In his contribution to the development of Nigeria,legendary Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe in his book ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’ notes that one of our problems is a Failure of Leadership. Achebe (1981) notes that Nigerian leaders had failed Nigerians. Today, Achebe’s observation was only a child who has now grown to produce children who should continue in the failure race. This may explain why there seems to be a failure of followership. Nigerian universities should therefore teach good leadership and followership skills. When these are done, the leaders and followers of tomorrow will be educated on what it takes to lead and be led. It is heartwarming to note that Information and Communication Technology is being taught in our universities Aware of the nature of the society at the local, national, regional and global levels, there is no alternative to this, Rather, all the universities should mount and run degree courses leading to award of degrees in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Through this, the inter-connection, the 21st century needs will be achieved.
Without doubt, nations of the world adopt difference approaches in handling issues, they operate different cultural behaviours and in a society where the world has become a small village, there is need to expose students to international cultural studies. In doing so, students will be introduced to the cultures of other nation
Finally, the globalized 21st century society encourages competition. This is so because of the inter-connectivity and the free-flow of information and products and the fact that every knowledge is for the consumption of the international audience. Since, this is so, we have to learn how to compete in a healthy manner and to do that which would be appreciated and acceptable to others

Conclusion
The 21st century is not a traditional millennium. It has gone beyond complexities with its ocean of positivities and negativities.  To survive in the 21stcentury and contribute meaningfully requires that the individual has general information, education, skills and orientation. The one who has these attributes is the total person who should be able to face the challenges of life after he or she has been thoroughly taught entrepreneurship education, skill development, communication skills, diplomacy, religious tolerance, peace education, security consciousness, leadership and followership skills, Information and Communication Technology skills, international understanding and healthy competition. These are the roles our universities, should play the process of achieving should start at no other time than now, as a stitch in time saves nine.

References
Abraham, N.M, Durosaro, D.O, Kpee, G.G, Edemenang, C.E, Okon, J.E. &
Odiba, I.A. (Eds.) (2014). Managing and planning education for peace in Nigeria: Themes and perspectives..Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press

Achebe,C . (1981).The trouble with Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth Dimension
Afangideh, S.T. & Aleru, G.E. (2014) Capacity building for Nigerian university
          teachers for quality eductaion delivery in the 21st century
African Journal of Higher Education Studies and Development, 2, 63-74

Afangideh, S.T. & Kpee, G.G. (2010). Institutional impediments to quality
 researches in higher education in South-South, Nigeria, Journal of
         
        Developing the Total Person through Higher Education in the 21st Century: The Challenges before Nigerian Universities

         Educational Review, 3(4),441-447.

Afangideh, S.T.& Nwideeduh, S.B.(2014) Repositioning Nigerian universities for
the challenges of the 21st century. The perspective of the academic personnel. In N.M.Abraham, D.O.Durosaro, G.G.Kpee, G.E.Edemenang, J.E. Okon & I.A.Odiba (Eds) Managing and planning education for peace in Nigeria: Themes and perspectives. (268-274) Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press

Akpakpan, F.J. (n.d). Basic issues in partisan politics. Port Harcourt: Ijatex Press
Answers.com (2016). The total person.Retrieved October 29, 2016 from
          www.answers.com
Anya, A.O.(2013). The idea and uses of the universities in the 21st century, 2013
          Convocation lecture, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Babalola, J.B.(2009).Education that can raise productivity. Ibadan:Our linage 
Bullyxtreme.net(2016). Total person concept: Building a balanced life. Retrieved
October 29, 2016, from www.bullyxtreme.net
Dennis, L.U.(2016).Definition of total person.Retrieved September 17, 2016 from

Federal Republic of Nigeria(2013). National policy on education. Jedda, Abuja,
Nigeria Educational Research and Development  Council

Girigiri, B.K.(2005). Globalization: The state and the trade unions in Nigeria. Port
Harcourt: Amethyst & colleagues
Marcionis, J.J.(2009).Social  problems. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson
Education International

Magstadt, T.M.(2006). Understanding politics: Ideas, instruction and ideas.
United states: Thomson Wadsworth

Nnoli, O.(1980). Ethnic politics in Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth Dimension
Oluwuo S.O.& Afangideh, S.T.(2011). Cross-border researches in African higher
education in the content of social problems: Conceptions, concepts and challenges.International Journal of Social Science, 3(6), 137-141

Onyene, V.(2013). Issues in internationalization of higher education in Nigeria:
          Repositioning towards global relevance. In C.Uche & S.Ahunanya (Eds.).
          Internationalization of higher education in Nigeria (89-120). Owerri: Totan.

Quizlet(2016) Total person approach. Retrieved September 29, 2016, from
          www.answers.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GEOELECTRIC INVESTIGATION OF THE GROUNDWATER RESOURCE POTENTIAL IN PARTS OF OMUMA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS STATE, SOUTH EASTERN NIGER DELTA

GEOELECTRIC INVESTIGATION OF THE GROUNDWATER RESOURCE POTENTIAL IN PARTS OF OMUMA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS STATE, SOUTH EASTERN NIGER DELTA Womuru Edwin Nnamdi and Ibim, Dagogo Franklin Department of Physics, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria Email: edwinwomuru@gmail.com ABSTRACT Four Schlumberger vertical electrical soundings (VES) were carried out in Omuma, South Easthern Niger Delta, Nigeria. The vertical electrical sounding data were modeled using resist software into four layers. The first layer is the top soil while that of the other layers varied between sand, coarse grained sand and gravelly sand. The most common lithology is coarse grained sand. The result

AN ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMME ON WEALTH CREATION IN BENUE STATE

  ISSN: 2276 - 4201 Volume 6, Number 1, 2017 International Journal of Innovations in Management Science and Information Technology AN ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMME ON WEALTH CREATION IN BENUE STATE Kpelai S. Tersoo Department of Business Management Benue state University, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria Mail:simonkpelai@gmail.com ABSTRACT Poverty is pervasive and widespread among underdeveloped countries.  For several decades, global discussions on underdeveloped countries revolve around poverty related problems.  Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are currently with the highest level of poverty.  This study examines the current strategies adopted by the Federal

CORRUPTION AND VALUE RE-ORIENTENTION IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATION TO SCIENCE EDUCATION

CORRUPTION AND VALUE RE-ORIENTENTION IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATION TO SCIENCE EDUCATION 1 Paulina R. Danladi, 2 Aisha Mohammed and 3 Hafsatu A. Bello 1 Department of Mathematics, 2&3 Department of Biology Federal College of Education, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria ABSTRACT This paper focuses on Corruption and Value Re-Orientation in Nigeria: Implication to Science Education. The paper defines what corruption and value re-orientation are doing dishonest illegal or immoral things in order to gain money or power and value re-orientation as the principles of right of an individual or social change according to Advance Learner Dictionary. Corruptions in Science also discussed in detailed among which are vaccine defenders, human guinea pig, vaccine-autism among others. Challenges of value re-orientation in Nigeria include parental care, societal influence and drug abuse is discussed in details. Also there is need for value re-orientation in Nigeria among which are religions and ethni...