American International Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 3 No. 8; August 2013 95 Toward a Functional Citizenship Education Curriculum in Nigerian Colleges of Education for Sustainable Development in the 21st Century Eyiuche Ifeoma Olibie, PhD Department of Educational Foundations Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria Lilian-Rita Akudolu, PhD Professor of Curriculum & Instruction and Commonwealth Fellow Department of Educational Foundations Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria Abstract This study was carried out to identify basic components of civic awareness, civic knowledge and civic dispositions needed by youths in two Colleges of Education in Anambra State of Nigeria as a basis for a functional Citizenship Education curriculum. Three hundred students were randomly selected from the two Colleges of Education in Anambra State. A 50-item questionnaire survey method was utilized based on five research questions. Findings indicated that in the perceptions of the students, it is ideal to incorporate several civic components, skills and dispositions into the citizenship education curriculum. Recommendations were made for revamping of the citizenship education curriculum in Colleges of Education in line with the identified civic components, skills and dispositions so as to ensure the establishment of education for sustainable development in the country. Keywords: Citizenship education, functional curriculum, sustainable development, teachers. Introduction Since the declaration of the years 2005-2014 as the United Nations (UN) decade of Education for Sustainable development (ESD), UNESCO in particular has organized a number of global education conferences aimed at giving people the opportunity to discuss why and how to integrate the values inherent in sustainable development into teaching and learning processes. The aim is to use education to encourage changes in behavior that will create a more sustainable future in terms of “environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for present and future generations” (UNESCO 2009,p.1). The need to redirect educational efforts towards the achievement of sustainable development is a global one but it appears to be more pronounced in developing countries such as Nigeria. In the past three decades, Nigerians have witnessed dramatic oppressions from military dictators and have seen one authoritarian regime after another toppled in the mist of different forms of political violence. Even with the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, ethnic conflicts, massive corruption, kidnapping, religious violence, vandalisation of public facilities, call for confederacy and secession, suspicion and distrust among the various ethnic groups are among the problems which Nigeria currently faces (Ajiboye, 2009; Alutu & Ifedili, 2012; Mogbor & Mogbor, 2002). Further, the spate of corruption in Nigeria is alarming and pervades every aspect of National life from the technocrats to the politicians. Consequently, the loss of value, the imbibing of false values, the lack of self-spiritedness, patriotism etc. have become the lots of Nigerians. These social ills have pervaded all sectors, all aspects of the society that they constitute the essential problems with which in reality Nigerians have to contend. These ills are likely to have been caused by what Chinsman (1996, p,iii) summed up as: