Browsing by Author "Akpabio Edidiong Samuel"

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Climate Change Education in West Africa: Prospects and Problems
(Practices, Perceptions and Prospects for Climate Change Education in Africa, 2025) Akpabio Edidiong Samuel; Akeju Kemi Funlayo; Duruji M. M.
In recent years, the challenges of climate change have accentuated with human factors playing a significant role in its sustenance and spread. This climatic instability which has affected the socio-political dynamics of nations in West Africa come along with threats of political instability. It is due to these myriads of unpalat-able experiences that global agencies and policymakers have advocated the impera-tive to engage climate change education as a remediation tool for the rising challenges of climate change in the sub-continent. It is however important to sound a caveat that as beneficial as climate change education (CCE) can be when adopted, it is laden with prospects and problems for implementation. This represents the motivation for this study which examines the prospects and problems of adopting climate change education in West Africa. In a bid to actualize this quest, we explored the frameworks for climate change education in Africa and engaged in a cross-continental appraisal of climate change education across the globe. This allowed us to identify strategies that can be adopted and replicated in West-Africa while unearthing loopholes to be plugged. The chapter adopted a qualitative research methodology and utilized secondary sources of information among other sources to interrogate the embedded issues in the discourse. The findings suggest that the West Africa region can defeat climate change by enhancing capacities in the area of climate education and ensuring that CCE is made a compulsory subject to be taught in all schools. It was observed that although some schools particularly at the tertiary level teach climate change, much emphasis is always on the scientific dimensions to the neglect of political, social and economic components. This indicated that beyond educating the populace on climate change, emphasis should also be on the approaches or methodologies adopted.
COVID-19 and Digital Transformation in Nigeria's Higher Education System: Gendered Discourses
(African Women in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 2024) Duruji M. M.; Akpabio Edidiong Samuel; Okoro Efehi Raymond
It is common knowledge that the coronavirus pandemic transformed the global system. This alteration occasioned by the pandemic, commonly referred to as the new normal, led to the deployment of instrumentalities by man to aid survival amid the disruptions. One segment that was seriously impacted and had to bear the brunt of mandatory lockdowns was the higher education sector in Nigeria, which was not at its optimum before the onset of the pandemic. Another reason this sector suffered this crisis was mainly due to her almost total reliance on in-person learning rather than hybrid or online systems as practiced in most developed climes. Amid this health turbulence, some higher educational institutions noticed an improved digitalization as they feared the long-term impacts of the prolonged shutdown on their academic calendar and students' cognition. Hence, they developed systems that aided them in teaching students from home. This chapter x-rayed the diverse impacts of the COVID-19 interruption on higher educational institutions in Nigeria and her students from a gender dimension while assessing the effects of digitalization embraced by these groups as a way of displaying resilience against the strange situation. Investigation revealed that the COVID-19 situation dealt a terrible blow to higher education students in Nigeria, especially to the female gender, but was salvaged to a very significant extent through e-teaching and learning. The chapter recommends that these institutions intensify efforts in consolidating ICT as it is the way to go and can save this vital sector from collapse if faced with disruptions. The chapter was qualitatively driven and utilizes secondary data from book chapters, journal articles, conference papers, policy briefs, and monographs, among others, to evaluate the itemized issues and actualize its objectives.