Integrating Environmental Education into Nigeria’s School Curriculum for Climate Resilience and Sustainable Economic Development

Abstract

Climate change poses serious threats to environmental stability and sustainable economic development in Nigeria. Despite growing advocacy for sustainability education, the number of empirical studies that have examined the role of environmental education integration in promoting climate resilience and economic sustainability is limited. In this study, we investigated the extent to which environmental education integration within Nigeria’s high school curriculum enhances climate resilience awareness and economic sustainability orientation. We adopted a cross-sectional explanatory research design, using data collected from 400 respondents across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). Our findings indicate that environmental education integration significantly predicts climate resilience awareness (β = 0.64, p < 0.001) and economic sustainability orientation (β = 0.59, p < 0.001), while institutional support also significantly influences environmental education Integration (β = 0.52, p < 0.001). In conclusion, we found that the integration of environmental education into Nigeria’s school curriculum strengthens adaptive capacity, promotes sustainability consciousness and contributes to long-term economic resilience. We therefore recommend mandatory environmental education and teacher training, climate laboratories, stakeholder partnerships, the introduction of a sustainability education performance index, and curriculum alignment with sustainable development.