The need to promote our democracy provides the motivation for the articulation of an appropriate civic education manual. This is anchored on the desire to develop, in the faithful, an appropriate sense of civic justice, civic good and Christian responsibility. This is even the more imperative since it would be against the background of such understanding that the population can participate effectively in civic life as stakeholders in the promotion and maintenance of stability, justice, democratic values, civic culture as well as the legitimacy of government.

It is important to state that this manual is organized with the understanding that civic education is a persuasive enterprise whose motive is to create and promote requisite civil society, civic culture and social capital which are primordial elements for strengthening democracy.

The basic aim of this manual is to foster and sustain civic and citizenship culture among the faithful in the Catholic parishes and high schools in Nigeria. Effort is therefore made to develop effective strategies, skills and expectations of democratic/civic culture in those who use this manual. In the same regard, the subjects should be able to adopt specific models of participatory roles in a democratic context.

The manual provides the framework for the development of appropriate interiorized sense of political culture anchored on the social teaching of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the manual enables the subjects to develop effective political orientations, functions and expectations as well as being able to adopt appropriate model for promoting political/democratic action-taking perspectives.

In addition, the Manual also attempts to enhance the development of practical socialization processes based on the family, the school and the Church. There is important expectation that such socialization processes should be accompanied by self-critical initiatives in the processes involved in the recognition of one’s rights and obligations in a democratic culture as well as options for reclaiming/enforcing such rights.

In order to accomplish these objectives, this manual is divided into eight sections. Each section is designed to foster and promote specific civic behavioral outcome in the subjects. The sections, each, consists of five practical sessions that reinforce the development of definite social, civic, faith, political, democratic, citizenship or Christian community skills. Each session is accompanied by exercises or programmes of action in which the subjects are expected to participate fully, each of which serves to reinforce the expected behavior.

The general expectation is that this manual will constitute the instrument for consistent ongoing civic formation for schools, colleges and Parishes in Nigeria.

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