THE BASIS FOR STRENGTHENING THE NIGERIAN MORAL VALUES

PREAMBLE

The Nigerian values of good deeds and an adorable behavioural pattern and approach to daily living is one that has been lost over the years with our parents (the elderly whom were born prior to the independence of Nigeria and when Nigeria was a country of countries) talk about the good old days as against the current days where it all seems like the Nigerian values that were once proudly held on to all seems to be lost with individuals generally losing out on what dignity truly entails.

Africa in general have been known to be a continent richly blessed with a culture and moral values that gets Africans conscious of exuding good attributes but over the years in Nigeria, this moral values have been depleted and a loss of moral values, following suite.

What are moral values? According to wiki.answers.com, moral values are the inbuilt and inclusive ideology and logical of a person. wiki.answers.com further points out that it entails understanding oneself, finding oneself and that the moral values in an individual are inculcated in one by God and can only be defined if one really wants to know them.

From the preceding it is noted that the Moral values exhibited by an individual are determined by the individual and its manifestation is dependent on the individual’s decision and desire to exhibit these values to his or her daily approach to living. It is God giving and I must add the godly side of man.

Also, the moral values of individuals in a society, though inbuilt are further guarded, developed and driven to manifest itself by what I will dub the “moral values building agents” which will be discussed in due course.

In addition, the effectiveness of these moral values building agents is strongly relied on the system prevalent in a country because without a good system, the effectiveness of the moral values building agents at generally shaping up the best of moral values in an individual would be a daunting task that would yield very little result.

With regards to this work, the central point of focus of the moral values being lost is with respect to the corruption and displacement of dignity which is at a skyrocketing level, as against a consciously right approach to daily living.

The values which however seems lost is not lost but has traceably been thrown into the wind by these same people whom compare their good old days with the current days of now where not only the adults but even the juveniles are “proud” to be involved in acts that are to the detriment of their self-esteem. This is because the dent on the Nigerian system is traceable to prior to the first military coup of January 15, 1966 which arose from the ills of the then civilian government inefficiency at ruling the country.

On Thursday, 2, February, 2012 while listening to a Lagos, Nigeria based radio station; Inspiration FM, a caller called the radio station during one of its programme titled; sharing life issues and said that it is in record that foreigners in Nigeria break more rules and act more immorally than Nigerians themselves. I view the reason behind this as being because these are acts that ordinarily they (foreigners) cannot carry out in their home country due to the rigid and well upheld system prevalent in their country as against the weak and easy to bend one common in Nigeria. Though his source and approach to the statistics was not mentioned this indeed is a very debatable issue which I will favour.

In corroborating this debate, my reasoning would be that an alien, who knows not what corruption is, on getting to Nigeria and being met with corruption at regular intervals would be left with no choice than to get corrupt because after all he or she will always get away with it, which to him or her is abnormal but easy to execute due to him or her being surrounded by a system that “surreptitiously” encourages it. This same alien would be left with no choice than to repeatedly carry out such act much more than the average Nigerian will carry it out for as long as he or she is within the territorial boundaries of Nigeria.

The loss of good moral values in Nigeria though centred on the need to have a means to an end by the Nigerian who is at the receiving end of the immoral values perpetuated by his or her leaders is being carried out directly or indirectly and knowingly or unknowingly at regular intervals.

These days, young boys and girls of juvenile age are in a hurry to make money, thousands go to any length to get this achieved; ranging from cyber crime to aristoism (a term denoting redefined prostitution in Nigeria) to mention the very least.

All these acts are acts that did not just come out from the blue but were acts that were gotten from “somewhere” as a result of “something”.

These said, the somewhere and something would be discussed in the course of this work as we analyze what it will cost Nigeria to get her values back, thereby getting the true African Character of the collective pride of the dignity of the true Nigerian being resurfaced and reborn.

Somewhere “THE SOURCE”

The source entails where the loss of values all began, and why the loss keeps getting strong which has resulted in a host of Nigerians exhibiting wrong acts, sending the message that they do not care if it is wrong to do these wrong things and added to the fact that they are proud of exuding it.

From the foregoing, the source is centred on the system widespread in Nigeria that has over the years been of negative effect to the Nigerian Moral Values.

This is defended by my opinion that the system established in a country is what strengthens the behavioural pattern of individuals in the said society thereby being the bedrock for the effects of the moral values building agents comprising the religious institutions (Churches and mosques), the school, the family, conscience and so forth as earlier noted which are instrumental to shaping up the behaviour of individuals in a society.

Without a good system, the good moral values generally instilled and regularly preached and taught by the moral values building agents will be in the long run, somewhat ineffective. This further entails that for the moral values of any society to be maintained and not destroyed, it is pivotal for the system in the society to be void of being shaken and manipulated.

Also, I sense that the source of this loss of moral values is traceable to the system in Nigeria, the system that has over the years been riddled with wickedness and selfishness at a level that is not just with respect to an individual but collectively. Now, as against then when the Nigerian on the street had values, the same Nigerian whom once had these exemplary values is now filled with a loss of these values.

What is a system? According to the oxford advanced learners dictionary, a system is an organized set of ideas or theories of doing something.

It further defines a system as the rules or people that control a country or an organization, especially when they seem to be unfair because you cannot change them.

The latter definition is very much applicable in the Nigerian System. The ills in the past years executed by the government which makes up the system is as result of a system that is sick and very poisonous.

That said the system in any country is one that the ordinary man on the street cannot beat nor influence which is why most Nigerians have taken to ill acts and have lost their moral values, evidently basing their actions on the twin factor (bad government complemented by a bad system)

The Nigerians system is one that its turning around will be a very difficult process to be fully manifested because the ills in the system has bitten deeply into it, transcending to every nook and cranny of the society which further entails that the loss of morals values once jealously gathered has been lost with individuals not caring about their values because these individuals in defense on why there is nothing wrong with the ill values they demonstrate base their actions on the country being bad, bad leadership, bad government and thus bad everything.

In as much as Nigeria is among the most religious nations in the world, it ought to have been expected that the morals in Nigeria would have been among the best that any country would anticipate taking a cue from but sadly this is not the case.

However, the admirable religious nature of Nigeria indeed does not correlate with the moral values generally upheld in the country as its correlation is inversely defined.

Something “The Reason”

The reason is centred on the other twin factor which is the individuals in government which brings answers the question; what were the factors of this loss?

These factors are individuals whom due to their immoral approach to government, over the years disregarded the needed values for good governance.

Every system is shaped up and determined by the individuals in government and for a system to send the right message to individuals in a country then the system also has to be on point.

Individuals in government, found guilty of corrupt practices are still being celebrated, and if punished receive punishment that could be likened to a road show or circus which has somewhat made the leadership and nature of government in Nigeria a comic to follow its volumes.

This, which is among the many image dent Nigeria has suffered from over the years is not surprising due to the fact that it is the price Nigeria has to pay for throwing its prestige to the gutter, all thanks to her leaders and their nonchalant approach to governing which go unquestioned.

Until when the so called powerful people are punished in the same vein as the “powerless” people whenever an ill act is exhibited, all thanks to a revamp of the ill system prevalent in Nigeria, the role of the individual conscience, family and school at building positive values in an individual will continue to be a sham and a shadow of disguise.

For example, a holistic approach to this is the case of a young Nigerian of 7 years old being asked for what he will want to be in the future and he says; “he wants to be a senator”. His desire to be a senator is not for the purpose of ruling Nigeria for the good of the future of Nigeria but rather as he will further say “to eat Nigeria’s money”.

This response from the “future” of Nigeria only entails that the future of Nigeria is truly not secured and something urgently has to be done to correct this and bring back the strong Nigerian values of positivity.

The bad news and ills from Nigeria in the international news spectrum are more heard than the good and positive things coming out of Nigeria. Nigerians do not need a change but Nigeria does, through a positively vibrant system, thanks to its leadership because without the latter manifesting, the call for the great values of well meaning Nigerians to be continually strengthened and encouragingly upheld will be a futile desire.

These said, the strength of good followers is dependent on the nature of leadership in place. If the leaders are venoms, the followers will definitely be poisoned and act in the same manner as the leaders, basing the reason for their actions on the nature of the leadership available and vice versa.

Making History the Twin Factors defect to the Nigerian Moral Values

The Nigerian government over the years has been insensitively inhuman, thus lacking the cutting edge to do what is right "BURYING CORRUPTION and all other ills", thereby providing a progressive Nigeria as against the regressive ill experience that Nigeria seems to be heading to.

To ensure that the moral values by the average Nigerian is made positive, it is high time the following were implemented;

1. The government has to go back to the drawing board and vehemently brain storm on the ills of the system and the need to make positive, these ills.

For as long as the system does not heatedly frown at its ills, the role of the school, the family etc at positively shaping the Nigerian will continue to be a waste of time because such positive values are not appreciated by d lapses in d current system.

2. The individuals in government have to make up their mind that enough is enough and have the future of Nigeria in their heart because the continuous ill approach to leadership only draws Nigeria closer to a time of doom. This is because a stoppage of an ill behavior is a thing of the mind manifested by ones actions.

I really do think this would go a long way in inculcating in the individuals in the Nigerian government a positive mindset, thereby utterly overhauling the ill mindset that would hopefully in the future be perceived as “once defined the government and the anticipation of people to be in government.”

3. The government has to be a government of action like earlier mentioned and prove that it is the government of the fulfillment of its words in a consciously conscience manner.

4. The government should perceive itself as a mirror to its people and have it at the back of its mind that any action wrongfully carried out by it, no matter how small will also be carried out by its people since it is expected that the government is to be exemplary. This however centres on the justification of an individual that his wrongs are also done by its leaders.

5. Also, the various moral value building agents should not relent on their good works because sincerely, the Nigerian system and environment is in itself a discouragement to these agents effectively doing what they are meant to do.

Below is a figure I deduced illustrating the basis for the strengthening of the Nigerian value system

 

From the above, it is noted that all the moral value building agents are directly linked with the system which is in the centre.

The value building agents identified are the family school, church, mosque, individual conscience and others which comprise registered social clubs, seminars and other socio-political activity.

The figure further corroborates my notion that the effectiveness of these agents is solely dependent on the system in place due to the fact that the system is the bedrock to the manifestation of the actions and activities of the moral value building agents.

A concrete example on the bedrock effect of the system being the basis for building positive moral values in a country is the case of China which frowns at corruption, making the punishment against the act the capital punishment, the death sentence. The death sentence has since its enactment been the strong point of fear with respect to how the Chinese freely practiced corruption.

This stringent action has been the bedrock for the drop in the widespread corruption in China to its continuous adorable growth economically which has been the heart to China being among the fastest growing economies in the world. As against this, the heart of Nigeria being regressive is its corrupt system that is booming uncontrollably.

No doubt the display of moral values begins with the individual but this is effectively dependent on d nature of d system inherent.

The more transparent and pure the system is in Nigeria, the better will be the values exhibited by every Nigerian and the better will be the image of Nigeria and Nigerians in the global community added which will give-birth to Nigerians being respected and treated with dignity by all countries.

The system has to be changed and made good. This is necessary due its primary effect of getting Nigerians well valued all over the world because candidly some Nigerians have suffered from not being valued and therefore abused and dehumanized in other countries.

With regards to the preceding, an example according to the link http://aderinola.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/osamuyia-buried-at-last/ is the Nigerian; Osamuyia Aikpitanhi who was killed in the summer of 2007 by the Spanish police and kept in a mortuary in Spain for over a year before his body was returned home for burial. This action is not purely because of the Nigerian being found guilty of an ill act but just because he or she is a Nigerian, no thanks to the “Nigerian dent” created by the past leaders. Other nationals of other countries would not have been treated the way he was treated, costing him his life. Whenever a Nigerian is found guilty of a crime, he is treated as a special criminal with the worst of punishment against him or her.

At this juncture, it is important to note that the local laws in Nigeria should be made to frown at immoral values at all spheres and beyond.

So many individuals opine and argue that to get the Nigerian Values back on track, it is pertinent for the family and other institutions earlier mentioned to be the vocal point of change. In this argument, something is missing and due to this, in my opinion, I do feel that the primary factor though missing and very strong in this debate is the system in place which is of more importance to the secondary factors (moral value building agents).

In my last words; “The effectiveness of the goodness of the moral values inherent in individuals in a country, be it citizens or aliens is strongly dependent on the system which results from the pragmatic approach of the individuals in government at defining what good morals entails through the laws made, how they themselves are fully in compliance with the law (Rule of law) thereby being a high-quality mirror for the followers to base their actions on. 

This is because good morals begins with the leadership which further entails that the type of system in place has a multiplier effect on the moral values to be exuded by individuals (both citizens and aliens) living in a country.

God bless Nigeria!!!

DISCLAIMER

Except for the definition of Moral Values, system and the story of the Nigerian Killed in Spain, this work was carried out by the writer without being researched. It is however pivotal to point out that the points, suggestion, phrases and entirety of the write up are stated from the ideas of the writer.

Plagiarism is utterly frowned at. If the words and illustrations pointed out are to be adopted in subsequent works by other individuals, encompassing an extraction or a further build up on this work by other writers or in the course of a lecture/seminar delivery, referencing the writer will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Taiwo, Kehinde Oluwaseyi