COMMUNITY EDUCATION AS A CORRELATE OF PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN IKWUANO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined community education as a correlate of
participation in community development activities in Ikwuano LGA in
Abia State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for
the study, while two research questions and two hypotheses were
generated from the research objectives. The target population of the
study comprised 2,238 members of community drawn from 10
communities. Proportionate sampling technique was adopted to select
30% (696) respondents and the instrument used for data collection was
a questionnaire titled: Community Education Correlates of Participation
in Community Activities scale (CECOPCDAS). The reliability index of the
instrument was 0.82 determined through the use of Pearson Product
moment Correlation Statistics (PPMC). The hypotheses were tested
using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) analysis at 0.05
level of significance. The findings from the study revealed that
community education affected people’s participation in community
development activities in their communities (Mean = 2.7). It was also
found that community education is a social engineering tool for citizen
participation in community development activities in Ikwuano LGA
(Mean = 2.5). It was further revealed that there was a significant
relationship between community education and citizen participation in
community development activities and levels of awareness on
community development activities (r=0.695, p<0.05). In addition, it was
discovered that there was significant relationship between community
education and the level of citizens’ participation in community
development activities (r = 0.510, p<0.05). The study therefore
recommended among others that community education should be 
improved and given adequate attention to enhance sustainable
development in Nigerian communities.