Social and Behavioural Change Communication and Economic Sustainability Creating a balance between Consumption and Production Economic Practices in Nigeria

The role of development communication for sustainable economy in any nation cannot be overemphasized. Although the function of communication generally is to create shared meaning and exchange of ideas as well as information, the essence of every positive communication is to promote development in the society. In recent times, the crisis rocking the Nigerian economy and rising inflation amidst insecurity, calls for a holistic approach from the perspective of social and behavioural change communication (SBCC) to address the problem. This paper therefore, explored the nexus between SBCC and economic sustainability with the aim of striking a balance between production and consumption economic practices amongst Nigerians. The discourse concluded that for economic sustainability to be achieved in Nigeria, development communication or SBCC must be used to build vital institutions and social structures that promote production economy than consumption economy in all sectors. The paper adopts the review of relevant literature as the methods for data collection. The paper also recommended that political actors and policy makers in Nigeria should utilize the development communication approach to answer economic questions in order to shift from consumption to production. This will assist in boosting the dwindling economy of Nigeria. Government at all levels should create a synergy with development communicators to arrest some of the factors hindering the growth of the Nigerian economy.

Keywords: Communication, SBCC, development, production, economic sustainability.