Morality and societal stability
BY Pastor Joseph Suleiman (MANJOE)
“For where there is no morality, justice falls into abeyance and where there is no justice the people fight” – Tom Odi
I don’t know the origin of morality, but I can hazard a guess. If morality has to do with the concept of what is right and what is wrong, then I can safely say that morality started with God in the Garden of Eden, when according to the Holy Book, God created ALL things and put man in charge to administer on His behalf. There in the book of Genesis, God defined the boundaries of operations for man in the garden. There were fruits that man should freely eat and one that he should not eat because of its dire consequences.
In human society, culture defines what is right or wrong. This is because all societies have sets of values that define acceptable behaviour. However, values may slightly vary from one society to the other, but the fundamentals are the same. That is, the concept of what is good and what is evil is inbuilt in all humans. There is this golden rule contained in the Holy Book, Matthew 7:12 – “Therefore ALL things whatsoever you wish that men should do to you, do even likewise unto them: for this is the law and the prophets”. I understand this to mean the beginning and the end of all religions! For instance, If you don’t want others to cheat you don’t cheat them. If you don’t want to be harmed, don’t harm others. The crises and wars that we hear all over the world today are the direct consequences of the violations of this golden rule. No more, no less. Nigerians are a people of religion but equally a nation of very low moral standing. You may ask, what good has religion done to us? Well, that is a topic for another day. For now, I would like to dwell on the key indicators of low moral in our nation so that readers will know where the nation is standing on a moral scale. Let’s quickly look at some key indicators of immorality in our society.
Social indicator: This includes increased crime rates, rising corruption, decreased civic engagement, growing income inequality and erosion of trust in institutions.
Cultural indicators:These are but limited to the following: Decline in traditional values (e.g. respect for elders), increase and indiscriminate promiscuity, objectification, normalisation of violence and aggression, decreased emphasis on education and personnel development and growing acceptance of dishonesty and deceit.
Economic indicators: unchecked material acquisition and consumerism, exploitation of the vulnerable groups (e.g. labour exploitation), increased economic inequality, environmental degradation and lack of responsibility among citizens.
Political indicators: These are obvious and pervasiveness in our political space; polarizations and divisive politics, shameless and frequent decamping from one political party to the other; erosion of democratic institutions, decreased transparency and accountability and growing antagonistic interest groups.
Time and space will not allow me to dwell on each of these indicators, and in any case, they have become every day experiences to Nigerians, such that they do not need too much elaboration for even the uneducated person to understand. However, let me emphasize more on the political indicator because the greatest problem we have in Nigeria today is political,especially as it pertains leadership deficit. It is a known fact that everything flow from politics: power, influence, affluence, resources allocation and employment, the moral tone of the society and her economic viability or otherwise, all depend on sound political principles and morality.
Writing on the political state of our nation, Lasisi Olagunju, my favorite columnist, under the title “We collected money, and we noted (18th November, 2024), Nigerian Tribune, Olagunju bemoaned the situation in our country where, “we elect without election.’ It pains my heart to observe that the immoral conduct of election (selection?) by our political leaders have become the pattern for associations, clubs and even community elections. Even, students seeking election as class representatives in departments now induce voters with money and engage in fraudulent manipulations of the electoral process. That was and is still my personal experience as a retired teacher and activist. It is that bad! There is now no attendant detering measures to wrong doers. Back to Olagunju, dwelling further on the Ondo election, Olagunju said, in the past we had politicians with little appreciable moral standing. “…there were pretences in the past; but not now. He opined that “these days, we think pretence is for the faint hearted. No sense of guilt in wrong doings. According to him, we have so smeared our moral consciences that we are no longer shocked by any abnormality, no matter how bizarre, “nothing shocks anymore”. With reference to Ayi Kwei Armah ‘s, “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born” ,Olagunju stated that we do not need any prophet to predict the future of Nigeria. As contained in Armah’s voice, “When you can see the end of things even in their beginning there is no more hope, unless you want to pretend, or forget, or get drunk or something”. Olagunju ended his thought on a very bleak and mournful note, asserting pointedly that “Nigeria is no country. What Nigeria is, is void, pitch dark darkness”. This lamentation from one of our best writers, and analysts on national issues summed up the moral descent of our dear nation. Do you blame him? Or, consider him a prophet of doom? No, and far from it. This is just the reality, There is always a remedy no matter how bad a situation is. There is remedy for a society in moral descent under this subheading for a society that is ready to turn a new leaf – Religion and spirituality. But any careful observer will agree that Nigerian politicians have desecrated and weakened the religious institutions that would have been the remedy. Remember the fake Bishops?Today in Nigeria, political prophets abound who have abandoned their sacred duties of being the moral compass of the society to serving tables at the courts of politicians.
With regards to Philosophy and Ethics, the present crop of Nigerian politicians are not driven by any known philosophical or ideological convictions – and of course you cannot talk of national ethics in a society that has lost her morale bearing.
Cultural and Social Norms: This could have been another remedial factor. But unfortunately it is no more news to anyone that traditional rulers, the supposed custodians of culture and tradition have been grossly compromised by politicians and mammon.Which of our traditional rulers are not the appointees of political leaders, hence subservient to them? And the fourth, laws and regulations. Permit me to quote from the Holy Scriptures to describe the state of our judiciary:
“…And judgement is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off. For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey”.Isaiah 59:14-15
While I agree with patriot Olagunju on the state of the nation, I do not, however, share his absolute pessimism. The shakes, the convulsion and disequilibrium and the instability we are going through today can be reversed if only we can put a resistance to what we have identified to be the problems. The citizens will have to fight for it. We must fight to force the political elite to colour power politics with a hue of morality. As for me, I have resolved that if I do not see anyone in the religious and political space to model me, I will covet the power of God and my will power to be the role model that others can copy; even in my own small corner of the nation. The future is now! As it is often said, the time is always right to do the right thing. But it can be late if we fail to do what is right when the grace is available.May the good Lord help us to what is right Nigeria.
