Educational Predictors of Social Capital Development and Sustainable Community Engagement in Niger Delta Region, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper focuses on educational predictors of social capital development and sustainable community engagement in Niger Delta Region, Nigeria. It is recalled that inclusive in the four core variables of education are empowerment, engagement, experience and evidence. However, contemporary changing dynamics in educational provision are concerned with building of trust, consensus, cooperation, cohesion mentorship and network of partnership for civic engagement in community development actions. This is with the goals of ensuring a stable, dynamic, inter-dependent, strategic alliance and engagement that are capable of accelerating mediation, conciliation and resolution of issues that threaten community interaction and likely global peace and stability. Presently, the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has experienced relative peace after era of sustained agitation and struggles for resource control attended with violence. It is the view of these authors however that, there has being a seemingly neglect of social capital development in the provision of education with its attendant results of distrust, exclusion, self-serving interest, disintegration of values and norms among leaders and the led. Recommendations were made on how education can be used to revert the deficits in social capital particularly in areas of deliberative community civic engagement, cooperation and network for sustainable development and integration in the Niger Delta Region.