SOCIAL WORK AND DEVELOPMENT: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Social workers have been side-lined in social policy formulation and implementations in the past because enabling laws that legitimize role of social workers in national development as obtained in developed nations are absent. This paper focused on the role of social workers in social development in Nigeria. The paper examined the historical development of social work in Nigeria during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial era. The prospects of social workers spear-heading positive and sustainable social development was succinctly analysed in the paper. Active involvement of social workers in the social development and collaboration with other professions and the need for social workers to equip and educate themselves with current issues, knowledge and skills in development were recommended. The paper concludes that role of social workers is sine qua non in social development of Nigeria.