By Muiz Banire SAN
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/idrinstitute.png")
Nigeria stands at a critical juncture in its national development trajectory. The country is blessed with human and natural resources, diverse ethnic groups, and an enviable cultural heritage, yet weighed down by a growing erosion of ethical and cultural values.
From rising corruption to endemic impunity, from disrespect for elders and institutions to a fading sense of communal responsibility, the Nigerian moral fabric is gradually fraying. The ethical decline is not merely a symptom of governance failure but a deeper reflection of the decay in societal values. Rebooting Nigeria’s ethical and cultural values, therefore, is not just desirable,it is imperative for national survival and renaissance.
Everywhere you turn in Nigeria today; schools, markets, offices, politics, even pulpits, you are confronted with the same troubling question: Where did our values go? Once upon a time, the Nigerian society was guided by strong ethical and cultural principles. Honesty was applauded. Hard work was a virtue. Elders commanded respect. Community was sacrosanct. Cultural identity was a badge of honour.
Today, that moral compass seems broken, spinning wildly in a storm of impunity, greed, and materialism. If we have to be honest with ourselves, we didn’t arrive at this point by accident. The decay has been slow, insidious, and multi-dimensional. The ethical and cultural deterioration in Nigeria manifests in multiple forms. Public office has become an investment to recoup “sweat capital.” Public servants often treat the offices they occupy as avenues for personal enrichment rather than platforms for service. Civil servants collude with contractors to inflate contracts. “Runs” culture and examination malpractices have made nonsense of merit.
The educational vice of examination malpractice has become normalized among students and educators. Parents now rationalize cheating so long as “my child passes.” The “get-rich-quick” mentality has replaced the once cherished ethos of diligence and honesty. That explains the growth of “yahoo, yahoo” syndrome in our society. Ritual killings for emergency wealth are on a continuous rise. Respect for elders has been replaced with social media drags. Traditional respect for elders, communal cohesion, and cultural pride have given way to westernized individualism and materialistic pursuits. Where elders once acted as the conscience of the community, many have been silenced or compromised by poverty and political patronage. In politics, the end often justifies the means, while in business, fraud and cutting corners are regularly rewarded.
Even pastors and imams now compete for luxury in the name of prosperity. This decline cannot be divorced from the collapse of the socialization mechanisms that once regulated moral conduct, that is, the family, religious institutions, traditional leadership, and the educational system. Where the family was once the crucible of moral instruction, parents now outsource parenting to social media, music videos, and celebrity culture. Where schools once reinforced moral instruction through conscious discipline, civic education, social studies, moral instruction, and role-modelling by teachers, today’s classrooms are underfunded and uninspiring with dejected and frustrated tutors, coupled with valueless syllabi.
What happened to the values that once defined us? The Yoruba spoke of Omoluabi, a person of honour. The Igbo placed value on ihe oma, good character. The Hausa cherished mutunci, respect and dignity. Today, these ideals are mocked as “old-school.” Cultural wisdom is dismissed as superstition. Ethical conduct is seen as naivety. Rudeness and waywardness are rewarded as self-assertion and achievements. In this moral vacuum, mediocrity thrives, and national development stalls. There was a time in Nigeria when moral uprightness was not only valued but rewarded. Civil servants were respected for their integrity. Traditional societies enforced social sanctions for deviant behavior. Elders were custodians of wisdom, and communities rallied around shared norms. The Yoruba concept of “Omoluabi”, the Igbo value of “ihe oma” (good conduct), the Hausa-Fulani’s emphasis on “mutunci” (respect and dignity) were not abstract ideals but lived realities. The gradual erosion began with the military coups of the mid-20th century, which disrupted traditional authority and democratic accountability.
The oil boom of the 1970s introduced sudden wealth without commensurate institutional discipline, breeding a culture of impunity and greed. Structural Adjustment Programs in the 1980s and 1990s deepened economic hardship and widened the moral cracks as survivalism replaced community ethics. Democratic resurgence in 1999 failed to reverse the decline, as political godfatherism and prebendalism became the new order.
The impact of cultural imperialism and media revolution cannot equally be discounted in this ugly development. The digital and globalized world has come with its own set of values, many of which clash with traditional African norms. Social media platforms, though useful, have become tools for promoting vanity, indecency, and fraudulent lifestyles.
Cultural imperialism via music, film, fashion, and online influencers has pushed indigenous languages, traditions, and rites of passage to the brink of extinction. A society that once celebrated modesty now celebrates notoriety. The tragedy is not that these foreign influences exist, but that Nigerians have uncritically accepted them without filtering them through the lens of their own values. The transportation is without boundary. I believe this is how and where we lost the compass. The consequences are clear. What we are now witnessing is a society on the brink.
Crime rates are soaring. Youth unemployment feeds cultism and cybercrime. Fraudsters now get chieftaincy titles and other awards. Ritual killers are cheered on social media. Communities are fragmented. Trust is eroded. The once-vibrant Nigerian spirit is becoming hollow. Our value system has collapsed and requires rebuilding from the rubble. This rebooting of the ethical and cultural values requires a multi-pronged and holistic national reorientation effort that draws from all sectors and strata of society. I am aware of the effort made during the Buhari regime but regrettably it was inverted and consequently failed. Rather than building from the grassroot, the effort was from the top, and equally failed to galvanize national consensus on the minimum content.
The starting point in any genuine effort must be from the family which ought to be the moral bedrock. The family must be repositioned as the foremost incubator of values. Parents must be supported and equipped to model and teach honesty, discipline, and empathy. Parents must take back the role of value nurturers. Government policies should incentivize family-friendly work environments, parenting education, and moral development programs.
National campaigns should elevate the status of responsible parenting, just as we do with sports or entertainment heroes. The caveat however is that this can only succeed on the strength of our reorientation of the parents themselves. Most of the parents are contaminated beyond redemption if I may say so. Added to this is the need for our educational system to serve as a moral engine. The educational system must go beyond rote academics. Civic education, history, and moral instruction should be core subjects from primary to tertiary levels. Teachers must be re-trained as moral exemplars, and ethics should be part of teacher recruitment criteria.
Train teachers to be character mentors, not just lesson deliverers. Let universities reward integrity, not just academic excellence. Student associations and campus life must foster character development and community service. Inter-school cultural competitions, debates, and essays on national ethics should be encouraged. Our media and Pop culture must constitute value shapers. Nollywood, Afrobeats, and social media influencers must shape the minds of millions. Rather than merely lament their impact, Nigeria must engage them proactively. Content creation should be guided by cultural advisory councils.
While other countries absorb foreign influences with filters, we’ve swallowed everything, hook, line, and TikTok. We have traded folktales for Netflix, age-old proverbs for Instagram captions, and communal festivals for champagne parties. In the race to be modern, we forgot to be moral. Reward systems like national honors should spotlight entertainers and creators who promote ethical conduct and cultural preservation. We need a new wave of musicians, actors, and creators who celebrate honour, not hustling. Regulatory bodies like the National Broadcasting Corporation should enforce guidelines that balance freedom of expression with public morality.
Ordinarily, our faith-based institutions ought to serve as ethical anchors but sadly, they are also corrupted largely. Again, Nigeria’s religious diversity ought to be an asset, not a division. Churches, mosques, and traditional religious institutions must return to their roles as ethical watchdogs, not political megaphones or commercial enterprises. Faith-based organizations should initiate interfaith value campaigns promoting honesty, modesty, community service, and peace building.
Religious bodies must self-audit. Preach accountability, model modesty and prioritize values over volume. Religious leaders must walk their talk, embodying the values they preach. This cannot be a walk in the park as the leaderships of the institutions require reformation before the action. The question must be asked also where our traditional institutions that ought to be custodians of our culture in all these are? Obas, Emirs, Obis, and other traditional rulers should be repositioned as cultural and moral custodians, not just ceremonial figures.
They should champion language preservation, cultural festivals, rites of passage, and dispute resolution based on customary ethics. They must reassert their role as custodians of our heritage, not mere endorsers of politicians. Government should support such institutions through grants for cultural promotion and integration into local governance structures. The truth however is that if we cannot find a constitutional role for them, rather than their being continuous nuisance in our society; (most times, in the southern parts, many have become land grabbers), we should find a way to make them more relevant. In the use of technology and innovation, cultural values must be infused.
There is no doubt that in the realm of technology, Nigeria can reflect her values. Tech hubs and start-ups can be incentivized to create solutions that promote cultural preservation, apps that teach Nigerian languages, platforms for local folktales, games based on indigenous heroes and history. The curriculum of tech-based institutions must integrate ethical thinking and cultural awareness. The role of youth is equally significant. Nigeria’s youth are not just the leaders of tomorrow, they are the pulse of today. Their energy, creativity, and digital literacy must be harnessed for value regeneration. Young Nigerians must not see this as their parents’ problem. The youth must use their energy, digital power, and creativity to rebuild, not ridicule. Volunteer and mentor others. They must create value-driven content and not only speak the truth, but also live it. The youth cannot demand good governance when they jump queues, cheat in exams, or glorify fraud. They cannot fix Nigeria on social media if they are broken offline.
National service programs (like National Youth Service Corps) can be expanded to include cultural immersion, community ethics teaching, and leadership mentorship. Young Nigerians must be reminded that national transformation is not built on complaints alone but on character, courage, and contribution. Finally, and reluctantly, we cannot dispense with the crucial role of government as a moral compass. The leadership of any society is the mirror through which values are reflected. When leaders are corrupt, arrogant, or impunity-driven, society takes cue. It is criminal for a corrupt system to expect ethical citizens. Leaders must walk the talk. Ethical governance begets ethical citizenship. Nigeria must institutionalize integrity testing for public office aspirants. The Code of Conduct Bureau must be empowered and made truly independent.
Transparency laws, and open governance platforms must be strengthened. A National Ethics and Cultural Rebirth Commission has to be established to coordinate efforts across all sectors. In summary, the family, once the moral fortress of society, is under siege. Parents are too busy chasing survival and have no time to mentor children. Teachers have become disillusioned. Religious leaders often preach wealth without work. Traditional rulers have been politically emasculated. Celebrities, not elders, are now the primary role models. And the government continues to lead by questionable examples. Rebooting ethical and cultural values in Nigeria is not a nostalgic call to the past; it is a strategic imperative for the future. No nation prospers on wealth alone; it prospers on shared values. As the Yoruba proverb goes, “Ti a ko ba gbagbe orisun, a o le padanu ona”, if we do not forget our source, we will not lose our way. The time has come for every Nigerian leader and follower, teacher and student, parent and child, north and south, to pause and reflect:
What values do I represent? What legacy am I building? The fact is that the loss of our moral map is everyone’s and no one’s fault. It is a collective act. It is not too late to reboot the moral software of our nation. But the time to start is now. Let me be clear: our national development project cannot succeed if it is not undergirded by values. No amount of foreign investment, constitutional reform, or infrastructural upgrade can compensate for a deficit in character. Nigeria has not lost its way because it lacks resources; it’s because it has disconnected from its value roots. Rebooting our ethical and cultural values must become a national emergency. This column is not a lament. It is a wake-up call. Rebooting our values isn’t optional. It’s existential. Hence the rebooting is not just a cliché’ but a necessity. Let the reawakening begin.
A timely new publication, Casebook on Privacy & Data Protection in Nigeria, co-authored by Olumide Babalola and Uchenna Nnawuchi, 📘 Casebook on Privacy & Data Protection in Nigeria is now available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/8TmFZrd
______________________________________________________________________
Groundbreaking Guide For Lawyers: Adigwe Publishes ‘Artificial Intelligence For Lawyers’ With Free Research eBook
Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACiarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
How to Order:
📞 Call, Text, or WhatsApp: 08034917063 | 07055285878
📧 Email: benadigwe1@gmail.com
🌎 Website: www.benadigwe.com
Ebook Version: Access it directly online at https://selar.com/prv626
______________________________________________________________________
Alexander Payne Co. Law Reports
Contact & Orders 📞 0704 444 4777 | 0704 444 4999 | 0818 199 9888 🌐 www.alexandernigeria.com
______________________________________________________________________
The books are available for purchase at:
Online: www.educodex.com | www.selar.com | www.amazon.com | www.mikeozekhome.com
Enquiries: +234 704 044 9375 | +234 814 813 4773 | +234 816 872 3532
Email: educodexl@gmail.com
______________________________________________________________________
[A MUST HAVE] Evidence Act Demystified With Recent And Contemporary Cases And Materials
The publishing firm has produced an impressive catalogue of authoritative legal texts authored by its proprietor, Basil Momodu, Esq.,
For inquiries, contact:
📧 momodulawpublishing@yahoo.com
📞 07051822705
______________________________________________________________________
