MAPPING SOCIAL FAULT LINES

Emmanuel Monday Akhogbai — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 12:07:11 +0000

Nigeria’s development trajectory over the past six decades has been characterized by vast human and natural resource endowments paradoxically coexisting with widespread poverty, entrenched inequality, and uneven socio-economic progress. This paper examines the structural fault lines that shape poverty and inequality in Nigeria and interrogates the persistent failure of growth patterns to translate into broad-based social welfare. Drawing from empirical data, interdisciplinary social-science literature, and global development frameworks, the study critically analyzes the economic, political, demographic, and institutional drivers of exclusion. It argues that Nigeria’s growth model historically consumption-driven, resource-dependent, and structurally unequal has produced a development paradox where economic expansion coexists with worsening multidimensional poverty. Grounded in social-justice theory, political-economy approaches, and human-development perspectives, the article maps key vulnerabilities embedded in governance structures, regional disparities, class stratification, gender inequalities, youth unemployment, and the urban-rural divide. The study proposes a multidimensional agenda for inclusive growth rooted in institutional reform, equitable distribution, social protection, climate-responsive policies, human-capital investment, and participatory governance. It concludes that a new Nigeria requires not merely economic expansion, but a complete restructuring of development pathways that place human welfare at the center of national transformation.

CULTURE IN TRANSITION

Emmanuel Monday Akhogbai — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 12:24:44 +0000

Nigeria’s complex cultural landscape faces increasing pressure from the forces of globalization, digitalization, and transnational cultural flows. As global norms and values rapidly penetrate local contexts, concerns have intensified regarding the erosion of indigenous knowledge systems and the diminishing sense of African identity among Nigerian youth. Social Studies education, designed as a discipline for citizenship formation, value transmission, and cultural continuity, is strategically positioned to respond to these challenges. This paper examines how Social Studies education in Nigeria can preserve and promote African identity in a globalized world. Drawing on empirical studies from Nigerian secondary schools, national policy documents, Afrobarometer datasets, and contemporary scholarly literature, the article analyzes the nature and pace of cultural transition in Nigeria, the extent of identity shifts among learners, and the capacity of the Social Studies curriculum to mitigate cultural loss. Findings indicate that, although globalization has amplified cultural hybridity, weakened indigenous value systems, and reshaped youth identities, Social Studies education still holds significant potential to reinforce cultural awareness, indigenous values, and national consciousness. However, this potential is constrained by curriculum inconsistencies, inadequate teacher preparation, limited integration of local knowledge, and the dominance of Western digital content. The study concludes by proposing a culturally responsive and hybridized Social Studies model that blends global competencies with African identity affirmation, offering strategic policy recommendations for curriculum reform, teacher education, and community–school collaboration.

GPH-International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research

MAPPING SOCIAL FAULT LINES

CULTURE IN TRANSITION