Influence of Achievement Motivation and Demographic Characteristics on Academic Performance of Nomadic Fulani Girls in Adamawa State

Abstract

The present study was designed to determine the influence of achievement motivation and demographic characteristics on academic performance of nomadic Fulani primary school girls’ in Adamawa State. The survey and expost-facto designs were employed for the study which used a sample of 300 primary six nomadic Fulani girls from 38 schools. Random sampling technique was used to select the sample. The instruments for data collection were Achievement Motivation Rating Scale (AMRS) and Nomadic Girls’ Achievement Test (NGAT) with reliability coefficient of 0.58 and 0.61 respectively. Three research questions and seven hypotheses guided the study. Mean, standard deviation and percentages were calculated in order to answer research questions while t-test, one-way analysis of variance and factorial analysis were used to test hypotheses. The results of the study showed that nomadic Fulani girls have high achievement motivation, but low academic performance. It was also discovered that all demographic factors affect their achievement motivation and academic performance with the exception of age. Among other things, it was recommended that schools be located near nomads’ homesteads and collaboration between NCNE, UBEC, religious and traditional leaders to eradicate betrothal and early marriage in order to boost nomadic Fulani girls academic performance.