Investment Needs of Adult Education in the Andragogy of the Excluded
Prof. Jonathan Egbe Oghenekohwo Citation
A Review
Professor Jonathan Egbe Oghenekohwo
B.Ed (Hons); M.Ed: PhD (Ibadan)
Professor of Managerial Economics of Adult Education
Faculty of Education, Niger Delta University
Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
Professor Jonathan Egbe Oghenekohwo has urged his audience to think globally but act locally in the andragogy of adult education. He stated this in his inaugural lecture held 20th October, 2021 titled: “Investment Needs of Adult Education in the Andragogy of the Excluded” held in the Niger Delta University Main Campus Auditorium.
Prof. Oghenekohwo who count it a “profound opportunity” to stand before the “distinguished intellectual” community presented his lecture in a “most astute, coherent and succinct way”.
Prof. Oghenekohwo reasoned that the topic of his lecture has been loading over “space and time” with the totality of his educational pursuit being dedicated to the study of managerial economics upon which the University found him worthy to be crowned a Professor of managerial economics.
Prof. Oghenekohwo likened his argument (the andragogy of the excluded) to the relationship between God and man, wherein despite all the necessary provisions by God for the benefits of man, man still excluded himself from the Garden of Eden. Oghenekohwo wondered in search for the reasons and exclusive factors which were not provided by God in his investment needs for man, why man decided to exclude himself from God. Oghenekohwo concluded that the provisions of God were complete, however, man made his own decisions. Oghenekohwo also saw the relationship between God and man as an andragogical engagement rather than pedagogical experience.
A partial view of the audience
In an attempt to weigh the need for adult education, Oghenekohwo argued that lifelong learning needs and investment therein is an investments rather than a cost. Nonetheless, the programme has been faced with various challenges, leading to the lecture, Investment Needs of Adult Education in the Andragogy of the Excluded.
Academic procession
Oghenekohwo cited Knowles (2000) who defined andragogy as “the art and science of helping adult to learn in contrast to pedagogy as the art and science of teaching children”. Oghenekohwo inferred that people take decisions that affect a whole civil order, hence men of all walks of life have to be educated to know something about everything. This is to enable them make proper decisions that affects social order.
The Registrar, Benjamin Joffa
In his contemporary definition, adult education is a well established academic field of study in which adult learn something about everything for the purpose of sustainable social well-being. Accordingly, Oghenekohwo have continually interrogated economics of adult education with emphasis on its efficiency, economics of scale and the internal rate of return as evident in human and social capital development respectively.
While citing the FRN (2013), Oghenekohwo stated that mass literacy, adult education and non-formal education is the equivalent of basic education given to adults, children and youths of formal school age outside the formal school system. Oghenekohwo asserted that “the programmes of adult education constitutes veritable instruments for not only achieving social well-being of all adults by enhancing sustainability of human development, through the advancement of gender equality, empowerment, social capital development, health literacy, income literacy amongst other sustainable development needs of adults, but also mitigation of the exclusion factors in our development milieu.
Prof. Jonathan Egbe Oghenekohwo
Oghenekohwo developed a mathematical function of sustainable social-wellbeing as follows:
SSWB = f(E1, E2, E3, SD, F, & SI)
Where:
F = Function
E1 = Efficiency
E2 = Employability/empowerment
E3 = Equity
SD = Social Demand Satisfaction/social valuation
F = Flexibility
S = Sets of other immeasurable items
Prof. Oghenekohwo designed the educational needs of adults which he termed the circle of adult and non-formal education with forty four (44) distinct programmes. He referred to it as the wheel of continuing progression in learning as no one is excluded. The circle, amongst other needs includes citizenship education, remedial education, girl-child education, sex education, management education, apprenticeship education, etc. See the figure below:
Circle of Adult and non-formal education programmes (Oghenekohwo, 2019)
Oghenekohwo built on the strength of Akntayo and Kester’s (2004) work where the duo drafted a “bird’s eye view” of adult and non-formal education consisting of 32 programmes in adult education. See the figure below:
A bird Eye View of Adult Education Possibilities (Akintayo & Kester, 2004)
For a detailed information on this topic, get the lecture note from the author
Cover Page: Investment Needs of Adult Education in the Andragogy of the Excluded
