Assessment of Extension Education as a Strategy for Poverty Reduction in Enugu State, Nigeria

Assessment of Extension Education as a Strategy for Poverty Reduction in Enugu State, Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of the study is to assess Extension Education as a Strategy for Poverty Reduction in Enugu State, Nigeria.

The study will specifically;

1. Identify the causes of poverty among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, EnuguState
2. Ascertain health extension education services that can be used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu
3. Find out agricultural extension education services that can be used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu
4. Identify the commercial and home economics extension education services that can be used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu
5. Ascertain the industrial and university extension education services that can be used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State.
6. Find out the problems militating against the use of extension education as a strategy for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviewed related literature to the study under the following sub- headings: Conceptual Framework, Theoretical Framework, Review of Related Empirical Studies and the Summary of the Reviewed Literature.

Conceptual Framework

• Assessment Extension Education Strategy
• Poverty
• Poverty Reduction

Theoretical Framework

Theory of Culture of Poverty Situational Theory of Poverty Social Cognitive Theory

Review of Related Empirical Studies

Adult and Non-formal Education as a Tool for Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger among Retirees in Nigeria.

Level of Awareness of Members of Ehime Improvement Union on AIDS: Implications for Extension Education, Imo State.

The Impact of Extension Education on Improving the Training of Rural Women in Lagos.

Impact of Cooperative Societies in Socio-economic Development in Arochukwu Local Government Area in Abia State.

Analytical Framework for Poverty Reduction: Issue of Economic Growth versus other Strategies in Nigeria.

Summary of Literature Review

Conceptual Framework Assessment

Assessment could be defined as a process of collecting and analyzing information for the appraisal of a given situation. It also involves any systematic way used in bringing out ideas, reviewing and using of information for the purpose of improving student’s learning and development. There are different definitions of assessment which play vital roles in teaching and learning processes. For instance, Guskey (2000) defined assessment as a systematic process used to determine the merit or worth of a specific programme, curriculum or strategy in a specific context. William, (2010) stated that assessment for learning is defined as “all those activities undertaken by teachers and/or students which provide information to be used as learning activities in which they are engaged”.

Similarly, assessment could also mean the process of defining, selecting and interpreting useful information that would benefit learners in variety of forms. Huba and Freed (2000) asserted that assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning. Huba and Freed (2000) formulated four fundamental elements of learner-centered assessment as shown below.

• Formulating statements of intended Learning outcomes: – statements describing intentions about what students should know, understand and be able to do with their knowledge when they
• Developing or selecting assessment measures:- designing or selecting data gathering measures to assess whether or not our intended learning out comes have been achieved.
• Creating experiences leading to outcomes:- ensuring that students have experiences both in and outside their courses that help them achieve the intended learning outcomes.
• Discussing and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning using the results to improve individual student

The above four (4) fundamental elements of learner-centered assessment under pins the relevance of assessment as a necessary variable in this study.

₦3,000.00 – DOWNLOAD CHAPTERS 1-5 PROCEED TO DOWNLOAD Added to cart

 

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

This chapter described the methodology used in this study under the following sub-headings: Design of the study, Area of the study, Population of the study, Sample and Sampling technique, Instrument for data collection, Validation of the instrument, Reliability of the instrument, Procedure for data collection and Method of data analysis.

Design of the Study

The research design adopted for the study is descriptive survey research design. Descriptive survey research design is a type of research design where a group of people or items are studied by collecting and analyzing data from a population or sample of the population considered as the representative of the entire group (Osuala, 2005). Descriptive survey research design is considered appropriate for this study because it will help the researcher to elicit information from the respondents on extension education as a strategy for poverty reduction in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria.

Area of the Study

The study was carried out in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State.  Nsukka Education Zone is comprised of three Local Government Areas in Enugu State namely: Nsukka, Igbo-Etiti and Uzo-Uwani Local Government Areas. Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State is bounded on the North-East by Benue State, on the South by Anambra state, on the East by Ebonyi State and on the North-West by Kogi. Twenty-eight (28) autonomous communities were purposively selected to be used for this study. These communities were chosen because; it was observed that the registered associations and cooperative societies that the members were used as the respondents exist in the communities in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State. These communities have similar culture, value orientation, belief and lifestyle. Some of them are farmers, civil servants, bricklayers, traders but majority of the population engaged in these activities are at the low levels.

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS

This chapter presents the analysis of the data in accordance with the research questions and the hypotheses that guided the study.

Research Question One: What are the causes of poverty among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State?

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS, LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY, EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Summary of Findings

The following are the findings of the study;

1. Causes of poverty among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone Enugu state are; low income, Illiteracy, disease attack, low economic empowerment, insufficient skill acquisition centres, political instability and low political awareness, socio- cultural problems, poor health facilities, low agricultural production and poor crop yields, poor leadership in the communities, ignorance and poor value orientation on extension services. Further analysis showed that, there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of members of registered association and cooperative societies on the causes of poverty among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu
2. Health extension education services that are used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone include; HIV/AIDS enlightment campaign, discussion of issues on contraceptive, family planning method, seminar and workshop on environmental hazard among the inhabitants, use of maternal care services, awareness creation on prevention of communicable diseases, application of control method on communicable diseases. Besides, it was found that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of members of registered association and cooperative societies on the health extension education services that are used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone.

3. Agricultural extension education services that are used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone are; provision of fertilizer to inhabitants, proper use of chemicals like insecticides and pesticides, provision of mechanized farm implements, acquisition of knowledge and skill for use on modern techniques of farming, provision of adequate loan/credit facilities to the inhabitants for farming, availability of good access road for transporting farm products, use of improved seeds for plant production and provision of animal production. It was equally found that there is a significant difference between the mean ratings of members of registered association and cooperative societies on the agricultural education extension education services that are used for poverty reduction among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State in favour of the members of the registered.

Educational Implication of the Research Findings

The findings of the study have many educational implications. The fact that the causes of poverty among the inhabitants have been identified, will create awareness and rekindle the over riding need and interest of the inhabitants to identify with poverty reduction projects or programmes in Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State.

Moreso, the findings of the study on health extension education services will sensitize the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone to be very conscious in the maintenance of health status of the inhabitants which if improved and maintained, definitely their poverty level will reduce. This is because when a person is physically fit and healthy, such a person can effectively and efficiently develop and also participate in developmental activities of the community, thereby reduce poverty in the community. In addition, the findings of the study to use agricultural extension services to reduce poverty among the inhabitants will create awareness in them to realize the need to embrace mechanized farming system and feel more committed in agricultural production so as to reduce poverty in the area.

Conclusion

The study assessed extension education as a strategy for poverty reduction in Enugu State, Nigeria with particular reference to Nsukka Education Zone. Nsukka Education Zone is comprised of three Local Government Areas in Enugu State namely: Nsukka, Igbo-Etiti and Uzo-Uwani, Local Government Areas. The research was carried out in 28 autonomous communities purposively selected from the Education Zone. The total number of respondents used for the study is 320 made up of members of registered associations and cooperative societies in the autonomous communities.

Recommendations 

Based on the findings of the study, the researcher made the following recommendations towards poverty reduction.

1. There should be sufficient skill acquisition and literacy centres as well as awareness creation on health conditions, political, socio-cultural, and moral lives of the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu
2. Health extension education services such as: HIV/AIDS enlightenment campaign, creation of awareness on the proper use of contraceptives, family planning method, seminar and workshop on environmental hazards should be imperative to reduce poverty among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu
3. Agricultural extension education services in form of providing fertilizer for agricultural yields, proper use of chemicals like insecticides and pesticides, provision of mechanized farm implements, acquisition of knowledge and skills on use of modern techniques of farming, provision of loan/credit facilities, availability of good access roads for transporting farm products, use of improved seeds for plant production, and provision of animal production should be made available among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu
4. Commercial and home economics extension education services including provision of new products, marketing of agricultural products educating the inhabitants on the need to new products and new ideas, creating awareness on exchange of goods and services, application of exclusive breast feeding, use of nutritious local meals for baby growth, child birth spacing knowledge of tailoring among others should be seriously practiced by the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State.
5. Industrial and university extension education services such as the ability to purchase equipment for use by the inhabitants of the zone, application of technological know- how to increase productivity, provision of adult education centres to reduce illiteracy, use of media resources for effective information delivery to mention but a few should be applied among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State.
6. Frantic efforts should be made to remove wide spread illiteracy, government instability, poor governance, cultural barriers, problem of land tenure system, poor funding of community development projects among others in order to reduce poverty among the inhabitants of Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu

Limitations of the Study

One of the limitations of this study is that the study sampled only communities in Nsukka Education Zone in Enugu State. Therefore, one should be very cautious when generating on the results of the study. Moreso, the instrument used for data collection for this study is not a commonly used or validated instrument rather it is an instrument developed by the researcher but validated by experts. Besides, the study used questionnaire to elicit information on the opinions of the respondents. Eventhough, the researcher with the research assistants endeavoured to explain to the respondents the mti-grite of the questionnaire items and how to fill the questionnaire, the objectivity of the respondents may not be fully assured because there might be element of bias in the responses granted that the respondents were told that their responses will be treated as confidential. Yet, there could be restrictions as a result of their social, cultural, and political conditions or status. It is nevertheless, noteworthy that the researcher with the research assistants tried so much to explain and guide the respondents to fill the questionnaire.

Suggestions for Further Researcher

In recognition of the values of this study, the researcher made the following suggestions for further research.

1. An Assessment of Extension Education as a Strategy for Poverty Reduction in South-East Zone of
2. A study of Extension Education Strategies for Poverty Reduction in Kogi State, Nigeria.
3. Literacy Education as a Powerful Tool for Poverty Reduction in Anambra State, Nigeria.
4. Women Empowerment: An instrument for Poverty Reduction in Imo State, Nigeria.
5. Gender Equality for Poverty Reduction in Nigeria.

REFERENCES

• Adeyeye, V. A (2010). Designing and managing poverty alleviation programme in Nigeria. A paper presented at conference by Nigeria education research at University of Ibadan, Oyo state.
• Adeyeye, V.A. (2000). “Evolving sustainable strategies for integrated poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria”. Paper presentation at the workshop on poverty alleviation policies and strategies, organized by NCEMA, Ibadan Sept 18-20.
• Agboeze, M. U. (2015). Implementation of Millennium Development Goal 1 Projects in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka, University of Nigeria.  Unpublished Ph.D Thesis.
• Akintayo, M.O. & Kester, K. O. (2004). Concepts and Merits of Non-formal Education. International Journal of Literacy Education: Centre for Literacy Training and Development Programme for Africa CCCTDPA: Department of Adult Education
• Akunde, I. (2003). Towards an efficient maintenance of educational media resources ofr effective lesson delivery. Journal of education, science and technology 1(1) 86-97.
• Aluko, A (2001). Gender and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria. Paper presented at the 31 Annual Conference of the NIPT in Minna, Niger state 25^th -27^th October.
• Anger, B. (2002). Poverty Eradication, Millennium Development Goals and Sustainability Development in Nigeria. Department of political science Benue State University Makurdi, Nigeria.

₦3,000.00 – DOWNLOAD CHAPTERS 1-5 PROCEED TO DOWNLOAD Added to cart