MORAL EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: AFRICAN RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Nigerian society is undergoing moral decay as seen in the rising cases of vices and immoral acts like corruption, kidnapping, cybercrimes, extra-judicial killings and the general breakdown of law and order. This development is a barrier to sustainable national development. Traditional moral education in pre–colonial African societies was effective in maintaining law and order, peace and harmony. This work examined the role of religion in moral education for national development in Nigeria. The study adopts a qualitative research design and relied on secondary sources. Historical and analytic methods were employed to look at the history of African ethics and to analyse the role of religion in moral education for national development. It was found in the paper that, morality is indispensable for social progress and national development. African ethics is founded on humanism, the doctrine that considers human interests and welfare as basic to the thought and action of the people. It is this doctrine as understood in African moral thought that has given rise to the communitarian ethos of the African society. The communitarian ethos is also borne of beliefs about the natural sociality of the human being, expressed. Social or community life is, thus, not optional to the human being. Thus, African humanitarian ethics spawns social morality, the morality of the common good, and the morality of duty that is so comprehensive as to bring within its compass what are referred to as moral ideals (such as truth, honesty, transparency, accountability, probity, love, virtue, compassion), which are necessary for national development. The study concludes by recommending that, there is need to include African ethics to be revived and made to be part of school curriculum to make it part of formal education. Conscious efforts be made to preserve African ethics both at home, in schools and the community level. African philosophers/religious scholars should write more on African ethics with the view of promoting it.