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I propose that we emulate our South African brothers. The African National Congress [ANC] welcomed the idea of initiating a moral/integrity summit. The movement was based on a culture of high social and personal values rooted in ubuntu -an imbibed and strong African spirit that promotes good moral and human kindness to one another inclined in ancient Southern Africa-, which were articulated repeatedly through the years of its growth. The battle to overcome oppression had a long history and encompassed many strategies of non-violent and armed struggle. The deep ethical content and spirit of the Freedom Charter, signed at Kliptown in 1955, made it not only a rallying cry for their struggle, but a guide to many throughout the world. African National Congress [ANC] President, Chief Albert Luthuli received the Nobel Peace Prize for that initiative. Although, the African National Congress discovered with regret that, at times, some of its members deviated from its principles, but through good and bad times the moral integrity of its purpose and direction remained clear, it endorsed the repeated statements of its leadership that corruption will not be tolerated in its ranks. Cheating, stealing, dishonesty, nepotism, careerism, opportunism, and the manipulation of money or patronage are not acceptable. Such activities inadvertently undermine the principles of any setup that intends to succeed and develop, and should definitely not allow its cadres to practice them.
Unlike corruption that has cancerously eaten into the citizenry or the selfish governance our leaders have resorted to today, even unconsciously instilling in youth cunning ways to make money fast thereby promoting pernicious acts such as armed robbery attacks, ritual killings, cyber crime which has climaxed over decades in our country, good governance and conduct is lucid and transparent, and so cannot be hidden just as the Bible says, “Can you light a candle and hide it under a bushel in Matthew 5:15”, also good governance cannot be hidden. Good governance is one full of integrity: selfless, sacrificial, serviceable acts, transparency, accountability, and care for the people of the country as a whole. Nigerians as such have to commit themselves and everything they have to the struggle for a new, just and moral community. Self-sacrifice of personal enjoyment, time and money is real: we all share resources and dangers, hopes and fears. Far from being helpless victims of terror, we should possess a high level of integrity and sense of commitment which inadvertently would bring out the best of humanity within us and affect our nation as a whole positively. The ethics of social responsibility is to be considered a public issue; a matter of urgent attention reserved for not only the government but for the entire citizenry. Knowledge, theology, and social behaviour have been confined to politically approved forms as against what should be the norm .To attempt to liberate the people from immoral acts has presently become criminal. Social injustice is now the order of the day. By perpetuating a system they know to be a lie, respectable people have been indoctrinated by their own propaganda, and become incapable of recognizing truth. In a country where lies are proclaimed as truth, honesty is devalued. When elder statesmen are allowed to practice deception with impunity, national integrity has been corrupted. Plenty of lives have been thrown away by unnecessary conflicts and clashes.
Integrity seeks to ensure not just the goodies of a particular position, but follows closely the verse in the Bible in Proverbs 22:1 [NIV] that says “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold”. Therefore, religion out rightly has an important role to play in the transition from an immoral society to a just society with basic moral values and integrity. Most religious groups are deeply committed to the new nation, and are trying to overcome the resistance of those who still limit their faith to personal morality, and those who relish their role as critics but not co-workers in nation building. Rediscovering the positive role of religion in transforming society has also taken time. A transition to an era in which there is no religious discrimination opens vistas which are full of promise(s) to some and of horror to others. Both religious and political attitudes in Nigeria have to be reassessed in ways which promise a critical and constructive relationship for the nation. Hope and anticipation walk side by side with uncertainty, insecurity, and fear. Some seek to manipulate it for their own immoral purposes. The process of changing from an immoral to a moral society presents many opportunities for exploitation by those who are confused, those who wish to manipulate the situation for their own advantage, and those who are willfully corrupt, criminal and violent. It births people of great vision and commitment, women and men who put their energies and enthusiasms into the collective good of the nation. Others, still dominated by the self centered individuality of the past, will practice violence and conflict, corruption and immorality, hypocrisy and selfishness.
The vision of a united transformed nation must be constantly before everyone. It is done by accepting responsibility for ourselves, not by blaming others. It requires a commitment by every sector of society to build a nation with a sound ethical base. Good people make good nations. Cynicism, fear and frustration are driven out by rediscovering faith in ourselves and nurturing the spirit of integrity in our nation. The creation of an integrity/moral summit will be beneficiary from the many current enquiries, conferences, and initiatives into corruption, crime, transparency, and justice enforcement that will be carried out. Nations grow on the cultural roots of the people. They are not built from the top down, but arise from the experience of the citizens. The contribution to the national consciousness from our different ethnic, language, religious, historical and class backgrounds cannot be over emphasized. Society is transformed by citizens with social awareness and social skills. The people must take the initiative to press their local leaders into united action. Local governments can enable it, but not control it. Encouraging many local initiatives and organizations will involve people in institutional infra-structures which speedily produce skilled citizens. They also crowd out corrupt and criminal elements. Nations are built in neighbourhoods. High level proposals can set the scene but not the action. When people become neighbours we shall stop preying on one another, and start caring for one another.
Although, most Nigerian leaders seem to forget their lineage, values, principles almost as soon as they get into their political offices. However, it doesn’t end with the government. Of what use is a good leader with bad followers? We as citizens of the country, Nigeria have first an individual responsibility, then a collective social responsibility to have integrity of heart.
We should however remember that nation-building and poverty are contrast terms, whether the poor are a little fraction of the population or a large number of the population. A nation with wealth inequality largely due to lack of basic needs of impoverished citizens can be hardly expected to function properly in the growth and development of that nation. Nations are built by healthy and skilled citizens. Nigeria needs a national obsession to banish poverty instead of merely to accumulate wealth. We must all accept responsibility for changing an economic system that makes so many of our population poor. Greed and corruption have no place in nation building because much of our country’s resources are in private hands, businesses must accept a moral responsibility to the country as well as to their shareholders. The collective effort to find an answer to poverty will itself spread a commitment to honesty, truth and generosity. We have many specialized sectors; state governments, politicians, religion, business and labour, education, the media, culture, sport and many others, each of which must play it’s part in building a just and powerful nation. The need to encourage every part to engage in their own analysis of causes and solutions to the ethical challenge, particularly within their own field of responsibility is vital. Each one can mount a campaign for a positive commitment through integrity and uprightness of heart to the transition of Nigeria. This essentially means renewing our mindset which will include building positive relationships and joint ventures to achieve specific objectives on the ground between the organs of civil society, and between civil society and the state.
Finally, our people are moral and our cultural backgrounds are strong. Much of this transition is happening already. The next step of our national transformation lies before us; it is humility and turning from our bad ways. The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 [NIV], “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land”. Humility comes only with a sense of integrity and vice versa. Hence, if at least two people in every household were upright and outspoken, correcting others from doing wrong and reprimanding them appropriately, Nigeria would ploddingly but definitely become a better place, and even the vision(s) of citizens such as the renowned motivational speaker, Fela Durotoye of Nigeria being a peaceful place by 2025 would indeed come to realization. Long live Nigeria!

It is no news in this 21st century that Nigeria is slowly whirling up to a state of lawlessness. Socio-economic and political challenges such as ritual killings; kidnapping; armed robbery; terrorism; assassination; manslaughter; political corruption; political hassles and riots; killings of relatives by other relatives; drug trafficking; money laundering advanced free fraud (419); high rate of unemployment; inflation; the execrable state of the educational system, but to mention a few have proliferated in our beloved country, Nigeria over the decades.
In our quest for political and economic development, most people who have high moral principles and standards neglect them and behave otherwise. We are not criminals advocating unethical behavior. We all hope to bring up our children to be honest, with the desire to build a prosperous and peaceful nation Nigeria. The cultures brought together in our nation also had high ethical standards at inception. In fact our traditional African cultures were modeled on morals. Research in history has it that "Afrikanerdom" was prompted by strict adherence to spiritual values. Those who trace their origins to other countries also recognize high concepts of personal and social responsibility. It is a known fact that many of our people are religiously inclined. There is an inherent dogmatic culture in every single Nigerian, be it Traditional religion, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, there is a similar call to personal and communal ethical behavior. Even, humanists and pagans who are unbelievers accept the same universal moral goals.
Sadly, the so-called systems imposed by colonial masters defeated the intended purpose of creating a society of high moral standards. Nevertheless, all countries which have passed through a major social change to establish new objectives, structures and modes of behavior in the promotion of integrity have found out how rewarding it is. Countries, nations and establishments who lack integrity and do not even endeavor to promote it possess the following characteristics namely; corruption, criminality, tax evasion, underdevelopment, political instability, fraud, rape, the abuse of women and children, drunkenness, extortion, and family breakdown, not leaving out violence, these are the outward forms of a diseased social climate which presently exists in Nigeria.
This terrible state has birthed individuals advocating a paradigm shift which is an important factor not to be debated in the areas of personal decisions and uprightness at heart, otherwise known as integrity.
Integrity, in a layman’s language means honesty; uprightness; wholeness; an act of transparency and accountability state of being whole and undivided; and completeness. Integrity refers to a quality of a person’s character. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy which stems from a Latin adjective integer, which means whole, complete.
Panacea is a universal remedy, otherwise known as cure. It can be defined as a hypothetical cure for all diseases and illnesses. The term is also used to symbolize something that would make all of one’s problems and troubles disappear.
The history and few examples as regarding the moral decadence due to lack of integrity eating deep into Nigeria are cited below.
Ritual killings and kidnapping in Nigeria is a major menace presently engendering social unrest. Adebayo wrote in the Daily Independence, December 2010, p.4,”Kidnapping remains one of the latest additions to the list of violent crime activities in the country. It is now more threatening to the state and national security. At the Capital Old Eastern Region - Enugu State, Igwe Uche Nwachime in Nkanu, was abducted and later slaughtered because his relations had refused to pay ransom on time as requested by kidnappers. In Imo State, Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu, a member of Imo State House of Assembly and two sons of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly were kidnapped. Three persons were also killed when gunmen kidnapped a movie star, Peter Edochie in Anambra State.”
In the same vein, terrorism has been on the rise; consequently making many children orphans, many wives untimely widows, as well as several husbands’ widowers. According to the American International Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 2 No. 6; June 2012; The terrorist group in Nigeria: Boko Haram group does not mix with local people in the north and lots of its members that speak only Arabic and French come from neighbouring Chad and Niger Republic respectively. This perhaps explains why the group insists that western education is wrong. The group strongly believes in the Koranic phrase which says “anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors”. The Bodija-Ibadan traders’ massacre that took place recently in Borno is a pointer to the fact that Boko Haram, a group of individuals lacking human feelings is still very much in existence despite news about amnesty and several others.
Assassination and manslaughter is an activity that occurs without remorse nowadays. An 18-year old boy killed his own father stabbing him repeatedly because according to him, his father had not satisfied his educational needs. I ask, is that enough reason to kill a human being, talk less of one’s own father? Integrity as a mindset would have refrained such a child from performing a shameful act.
Another prominent example of the failures of nations who depend on a leadership void of integrity is drawn from the catastrophe called the 2007 general elections in Nigeria. It will continue to come to the fore of our national discourse for a reasonable time to come. Also like someone who makes the mistake of telling a lie, Prof. Maurice Iwu, who supervised that election, will have to tell many more in his bid to justify his defending what has continued to be adjudged the worst election ever conducted in Nigeria. While all men of goodwill all over the world have continued to pass a terrible judgment on that election, it is only Prof. Iwu, the then chief umpire, who did not and has not seen anything wrong with it. Even late President Umaru Yar'Adua, the primary beneficiary of the election, had on a lot of occasions acknowledged the fact, and shortly after assuming office, inaugurated the electoral reform committee in his bid to stand out. All these facts notwithstanding, Prof. Iwu, has vowed to continue to defend the election come what may. The fact that the plan to do a shoddy job on the election may have been premeditated may be gleaned from the actions of some people during the countdown to the elections. That selfish act has done nothing but create more problems.
Political criminality and corruption, tax evasion, underdevelopment, political instability has invaded our nation terribly. The $3 million bribery scandal involving members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Fuel Subsidy probe revealed the depth of moral decadence. One of the major actors in the scandal has opened up on what transpired. In an interview published in THISDAY magazine, Chairman, Zenon Petroleum & Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, who hitherto was suspected of being behind the $3 million bribery scandal narrated how Mr. Boniface Emenalo, had collected $620,000 from him in a sting operation masterminded by the security agencies. The amount was part payment for the $3 million, which he alleged Lawan had demanded from him to exonerate Zenon Oil from the ad-hoc committee’s report. Otedola, who was opening up on the issue for the first time, narrated how Lawan at the outset of the probe had approached him to get some insight into the activities of the downstream oil and gas sector, the end result was bribery and extortion, another show of shame and lack of integrity.
Several cases of armed robbery have been reported. This ranges from domestic attacks to hijacking people’s personal effects. The prevailing level of systemic corruption in all levels of governance and administration also defeats the purpose of having high moral standards. The state in which we all as individuals exist itself is corrupt. A state is expected to be the organ through which any society mediates its moral values to establish an accepted social morality which members of the society collectively regard as desirable. The state is expected to act as the moral arbiter of that society, and is entrusted with the supreme power to maintain the agreed norms of that society. When a state pursues policies that negate the social morality and values it is supposed to uphold it loses its position as the arbiter of society.
Our debilitated educational system is crumbling daily; a situation that was never in existence at its inception. The issues we grapple with in the educational system today are alarming. Recently, it was polled that about 1.5 million students enrolled for Joint Admissions And Matriculation Board [JAMB]; unfortunately only 500,000 students will secure admissions into universities. A whooping number of about 1 million youth end up sitting at home for another academic year, having wasted time, effort, money, and some sadly lost their lives while transiting to their examination center in Obeku-Ihie, Abia State.
The remedy to the socio-economic and political challenges in our country ranging from corruption, insecurity, persistent terrorist attacks and sectarian violence, kidnappings, armed robbery, mass murder, arms proliferation, as well as fragmented secession threats by some ethnic groups is essentially a change in our paradigm shift or mindset in all sectors of the economy. I propose that the whole country passes through a period of transition in which we seek to aggressively preach the gospel on the relevance of integrity as a remedy to establishing a new and successful modern society. The problems we experience are not different from those in other countries but at this critical stage on the global scene where there is chaos, anarchy and rebellion against governments almost everywhere, we as Nigerians must do something to ensure that our country becomes a truly moral society and not end up in ashes and dusts like some of our neigbours I would prefer not to mention in this write up.

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