MORAL CUSTODY IN NIGERIA.
The aim of this article is to identify, isolate the Nigerian moral problem and chart a simple roadmap to the solution.
 
Summary
The Nigerian moral values have been steadily eroding since the 1970’s. All of the 6 isolated groups of moral custodians are complicit, but the most important one responsible for this decay in our moral values are the religious moral custodians, especially because they are the only moral custodians who can reach the collective conscience of the Nigerian people.
 
In our history the Nigerian government leaders have abjectly failed as moral custodians, and have instead become role models of corruption and squandermania, In Nigeria’s history there have been two occasions when the masses protested nationwide, on each occasion the religious moral custodians have been so relatively silent, its almost deafening.
 
Nigeria is now blatantly morally corrupt with pastors seeing nothing wrong with accepting private jets as gifts, in a country where more than 70% of population live on less than a dollar a day.
 
Therefore drastic changes are needed in our psyche, and the solution in its 4 parts must be organised by a Nigerian people united for change. This must be led by the most effective, amalgamating, inclusive, transparent and strategic group of all those groups agitating for change.
 
Definition: What are Morals?
Morals are the accepted good code of behaviour in a given society, both the written and unwritten ones, that are believed to give favourable results, both individually and collectively (Bernard G, 2012) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
 
There are global morals, and then each region and local has their own morals, which usually are influenced by mix of culture with a people.
The morals of a community. Region or country are greatly influenced by culture, which is in-turn influenced by religion. Both the culture and religion of a people rely upon celebrities to engrave the morals into a peoples psyche.
 
The Oxford advanced learners dictionary, defines Morality as: that which concerns principles of right and wrong behaviour.
 
The Oxford definition, suggests there are constituent principles that form our collective morals, or in this case Nigeria’s collective morals. These principles as mentioned before come from the culture, global morals, religion and the character of the person used as role models to dispense these morals into societal sub-consciousness.
 
Who are the moral custodians?
The Nigerian moral custody lies in all leaders in all segment of society in descending order:
Religious leaders – Priest, Pastors, Imams and Indigenous shrine priests
Cultural leaders (Kings/Oba’s and their chief‘s)
Government leaders – President/head of state, Ministers, legislators, Judges, Governors and Police Officers.
Civil Society leaders – Business captains of industry and their executives as well NGO leadership. The media fall under this class of custodians and are key to a vibrant morally upright society.
Teachers – including lecturers
Parents
 
Importance of Religious moral custodians
The religious leaders are the most important of all 6 types of custodians because they are the only custodians that can reach the Nigerian collective conscience. The conscience of a people is formed by their morals, as directly influenced by where they worship and the understanding of the principles taught in the doctrine. Hence, only the religious leaders can indulge Nigerians to labour to keep alight the celestial fire called “conscience” as referred to by George Washington.
“Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.” ~ George Washington.
 
It must be said that generally speaking globally there is moral decay, however in no other country is it more obvious and dangerous, than in Nigeria, especially as there are plenty of religious institutions somehow impacting the community but still getting mixed results due to perversion of opportunists as outlined in First Annual Round Table Conference on Cultural Orientation
National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO, 2004)
 
How have our moral values been eroded?
Since the late 1970’s our moral values have been steadily declining unchecked by all moral custodians; especially the Religious moral custodians.
In an article for CHANGE entitled “The failure of Nigerian Religious Institutions” he details how despite our strong rooted religious values, our societal values do not mirror the religion we espouse, at least compared to a country like Japan. He goes into detail, of how we are all complicit:
 
“Both religions have similar core value attributes and sanctions against indiscipline, oppression, wickedness and corruption. What is wrong with the conscience implanted by our creator in steering our basic daily activities, either private or public?
 
Let’s not take it far. You and I make up the two religions. How often do we obey traffic rules? Do we dump refuse in the gutters during rainfall? How often do we litter the streets with sachet? How often do we discharge our civilian duties without supervision? How often do we do the right thing at work? Diligence? How good does our integrity smell?”
 
His questioning of our obedience to traffic regulations is 100% accurate, as this is the junction where all 6 moral custodians display our character, and the content of our conscience.
 
I have travelled to many countries, and most people who have done the same, will agree that the driving habits of each country’s busy city, relatively depicts the character of the people in that city. This article written in 2011 sheds some light on the Matters of the moment from Nigeria Nov. 2011 (Link in reference bottom)
 
Timeline of erosion of our moral fabric and the complicit quiet Religious leaders
 
Let us Chronologically examine some milestone corrupt events that have occurred since late 70’s and under the watch of Government leaders, and the corresponding response from Religious leaders if any?
 
Shagari admin
The Shagari administration was notorious for corruption, especially with the value of the Naira being exactly equivalent to the US dollar.
The cronyism, and banal waste of natural resources was mind blowing, contracts awarded indiscriminately. However the media were still following correct reporting standards. And documented most of the corruption without fear or favour.
 
In the Shagari era, one of the most reported corruption saga, that really lowered the moral bar, and seared our moral conscience was the
Umaru Dikko cargo corruption case : this case as reported:
Umaru Dikko affair and plunging Nigeria corruption – See link in references
Through out this period we did not hear a word from the religious custodians at a significant pitch to affect the nations psyche.
 
Then there was a reprieve with the military coup of General Buhari, and arguably his more effective leutenant late Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon – The very strict regiment that saw the introduction of War Against Indiscipline (WAI). This regime was so effective, arguably more infrastructure was built in Nigeria than ever before prior since independence. Although most of this infrastructure was built in the Northern part of the country. It must be said that the WAI effectively implemented by the Regime was also not well liked by the corrupt elite of the people, and they was an audible sigh of relief if not jubilation when General Babaginda overthrew them in a coup along with his deputy Sanni Abacha.
 
IBB appease military
General Babangida (IBB) also known as the evil genius, has been infamously called one of the most intelligent leaders of Nigeria, due to his shrewd way of manipulating and corrupting a people arguably willing to be corrupted.
Through out this period we did not hear a word from the religious custodians at a significant pitch to affect the nations psyche.
SAP IBB must go
IBB’s corruption reached fever pitch and caused a revolt amongst the masses, when in 1989 it was alleged that Ebony magazine published IBB as the richest general in the world, This triggered spontaneous protests across the country’s teaming student population, started by University of Benin, in a nationwide protest entitled “IBB must go” This lasted for 3 days, but IBB once again outwitted the collective will of the students and workers who weren’t sure whether to strike or not. At the time Babaginda was notorious for giving luxury cars and other gifts to the military and other loyals that he wanted to use for leverage. An infamous quote allegedly attributed to him is ~ Everyman has a price.
 
During the IBB era, a big blow was also done to moral custody when the Journalist Dele Giwa was letter bombed. There was much uproar from the populace, but much ado.
 
Another crazy episode during the IBB era was the election of Abiola for president and the sudden annulling of the election by IBB.
 
Through out this period we did not hear a word from the religious custodians at a significant pitch to affect the nations psyche.
 
Then there was a quiet coup, which almost looked like an agreement for Sanni Abacha to become head of state,
Sanni Abacha was exactly IBB, but without the sauve or panache of leadership, he was a brute, and Nigerians suffered a great deal under him. So much so, the international community classified Nigeria as a pariah state.
Irony of Archbishop Benson Idahosa
Now this time, one of the fore-fathers of Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria – The Late archbishop Benson Idahosa, has grown in popularity, influence and sagacity to be one of the first moral custodian to rebuke a sitting ruler as he rebuked a fearsome General Sanni Abacha in his government house.
 
Now this is supposed to be a good development and exactly the gumption we expect the religious custodians to have. However considering that he was the mentor of most of the mega-church pastors today, who are not whispering talk-less of berating government leaders; it makes us wonder why they didn’t learn that part of what he thought them well.
 
The irony of Archbishop Idahosa was he was the pioneer of prosperity Christianity, as we watched him grow in congregation size with the following under his wing….
Private jet owning Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and yes the richest of them all Pastor David Oyedepo!
After Abacha died as rumoured while with an Indian prostitute, then the interim military government of Abdulsalami presided over an election that saw former head of state Obasanjo, come back to power for 8 years as a democratic president.
He himself being a self-acclaimed born-again christian, just gave the moral custodians a good reason to hands off trying to correct him, even though corruption continued unabated under his watch. Then there was the election of  late Yar adua for the short time he lived as president until his untimely death due to illness. ,
 
Then Goodluck Jonathan succeeded him as acting president, until elected president. Under GEJ the subsidy protest on January 6th this year 2012 has been the most significant, and of note is that despite the intensity of this public protest on increase of fuel prices that will undoubtedly cause hardship, I have only counted 3 church leaders who have spoken publicly against the subsidy removal, ie Rev. Peter Akinola.
The silence from the church and mosque leaders is almost deafening.
A few months ago the Taraba state gov. unfortunately crashed his private jet, with 5 people on board. The news reports state just 5 years ago he was a pharmacist, and owned just one car, but now he also has two helicopters and a private landing strip near his village.
Once again, we do not hear a word from the religious custodians at a significant pitch to affect the nations psyche. Instead we hear that Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President was gifted with a private jet for 40 years of service by his congregation.
 
A congregation that is part of the nations population where collectively 70% survive on less than a dollar a day.
 
Solution An awakening of d people to rebuke our moral custodians for dereliction of duty, because we know d instructive scriptures they read from too. A. This will involve peaceful revolt & rejecting by members! B. A robust national conversation by signatory religious organisations to provide moral compass to combat deadly 7 sins C. A commitment by media organisations to name & shame moral bankrupt 9jrns & glorify moral role models based on morally sound conduct. D. A national peaceful protest by Civil Society calling clarity when it comes to  separation of church & state.
 
Conclusion The Nigerian moral code has been gradually eroded for d last 30 plus years. It is now blatantly morally corrupt with pastors seeing nothing wrong with accepting private jets as gifts, in a country where more than 70% of population live on less than a dollar a day.
 
Therefore Drastic changes are needed in our psyche, and the solution in its 4 parts must be organised by a united Nigeria people united for change. Led by the most effective, inclusive, transparent and strategic group of all those groups agitating for change.
 
References
 
Bernard G, “The Definition of Morality”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2012/entries/morality-definition/.
 
THE FAILURE OF OUR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS July 23, 2012
Posted by seunfakze in CHANGE.
http://seunfakze.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/the-failure-of-our-religious-institutions/
 
Moral responsibility in a rapidly declining society
Austin Brunson on June 30, 2008, 5:53 P
http://bigthink.com/ideas/moral-responsibility-in-a-rapidly-declining-society?page=all
 
First Annual Round Table Confernce on Cultural Orientation
National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO, 2004)
http://www.josephkenny.joyeurs.com/NICO.htm
 
State Decline and the Return of Occult Powers: The Case of Prophet Eddy in Nigeria
Johannes Harnischfeger
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mrw/summary/v001/1.1.harnischfeger.html
 
Matters of the moment from Nigeria Nov. 2011
https://www.facebook.com/notes/greg-ekhator/recent-trip-to-9ja-112011-matters-of-the-moment/314051335287784
 
Umaru Dikko affair and plunging Nigeria corruption
http://www.radioislam.org/islam/english/jewishp/africa/dikko_nigeria_mossad.htm