Exploring Nigeria’s ethno-religious diversities for an enduring national unity. The perception of teachers in Bayelsa State

Abstract

The over one hundred years of Nigeria’s nationhood has been a mixture of fragile unity and mutual suspicion coloured by bitter rivalries among the various ethnic and religious groups. Thus, this paper is premised on the dire need to explore the possibility of harnessing the ethno-religious diversities in Nigeria to foster a genuine and sustainable national unity devoid of rancour and acrimony while assessing the perception of senior secondary school teachers in Bayelsa state. In realizing this objective, the paper adopted a descriptive survey research type with a sample of 500 secondary school teachers drawn from five local government areas in Bayelsa state through a proportionate sampling technique. A 10-item researcher’s designed questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on Exploring Nigeria’s Ethno-Religious Diversities for an Enduring national Unity (QENERDENU)” was developed and it was subjected to face and content validity by Test and Measurement lecturers from the Department of Teacher Education, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State. The questionnaire was trial-tested on senior secondary school teachers outside of the research locale. The

two set of scores were correlated using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and it yielded reliability co- efficient of 0.71. Arithmetic mean was used to answer the research question without a corresponding hypothesis at an acceptable criterion level of 2.50 while the only null hypothesis was tested with the use of t-test statistical method at 0.05 level of significance. From the data collected, analysed and the results presented; it was recommended among others that, there is a need for Nigerians irrespective of ethnic or religious differences to cultivate the virtues of tolerance, mutual understanding and forgiveness.