Nigeria is a country blessed with rich human and natural resources. When such resources are mismanaged, people cannot be happy. Thus, gross mismanagement of resources can result in the exhibition of such immoral behaviour, by those negatively affected, like riot, violent demonstration and war.
Insincerity in our dealings with our fellow human beings can cause further immoral action. The fact that a person is insincere is in itself an immoral act. Now, this can beget further acts of immorality. It is because many Nigerians do not want to do things in the right way that such negative attitudes like tribalism or favouritism have become part of life in the Nigerian society. Thus, appointments into various positions of authority as well as admission into institutions of learning are often times not based on merit, but on ethnic, religious or political connections otherwise called “long leg.”
In other words, occupying any position of authority or gaining any employment in Nigeria nowadays greatly depends on whom you know. This is not healthy for this country.
Unbridled quest for money, the desire to get rich overnight is another strong factor that causes immoral behaviour in Nigeria. The first letter of St Paul to Timothy remarks that “The love of money is the root of all evils.” (I Tim 6:10). In Nigeria, it is only when you are rich that you are highly respected and honoured, irrespective of the source of your wealth. That is why many Nigerians do all sorts of wicked things including rituals, human sacrifice, killings, stealing and embezzlement, to get rich.
First, the government should provide employment for all Nigerians. No one should remain idle, since an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
Efforts should also be made by government at all levels and all well-meaning Nigerians to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. When the gap between the stinkingly rich and the abjectly poor increases by leaps and bounds, this situation will give rise to crimes like violence, prostitution and robbery, etc.
Furthermore, home video films should aim at performing therapeutic function in the Nigerian society. In other words, their contents should aim at cleaning the rot in the society. Nigeria is rated among most corrupt countries in the world. Home videos should, therefore, be geared toward remedying this ugly situation.
Watching films with violent and pornographic contents should be highly discouraged, if not prohibited. The government, parents and teachers should make concerted effort to dissuade people, especially youngsters, from viewing films with negative contents. In this case, the Nigerian Films and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) and other similar agencies of the government should ensure that the rules and regulations guiding the production and viewing of films are implemented. They must bring to book all those who produce, distribute and sell films with negative contents to the public.
Similarly, subjects like ethics, morality and civic education should be included in the study curricular, especially of primary and post primary levels of education. Since children spend more time at home, parental mediation and guidance should be taken very seriously. This can be achieved only when parents spend quality time with their children. Indeed, once in a while, family members should spend together a few days of vacation and relaxation, in spite of their busy schedules. At such period, moral norms and virtues can be inculcated into children by their parents.
There is an adage which says “show me your friends and I will tell you who you are”. Another adage says, “Birds of the same feathers flock together”. The two statements above have similar contents. They imply that the company a person keeps determines the credibility, integrity or otherwise of that person. That is why I strongly advise parents to be keenly interest in knowing the kinds of friends their children keep. Indeed, parents should advise their children against keeping bad company. By so doing, juvenile delinquencies will reduce, if not completely wiped out of the society.
To reduce crimes in the society, Nigerians, whom John S. Mbiti describes as irresistibly religious people, should endeavour to translate their religious faith into action. For Jesus himself has remarked,” It is not those who call me ‘Lord, Lord’ who will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).
If adherents of the two main religions in Nigeria (Islam and Christianity) practise what they preach or what is preached to them, there will be no crimes in the society. Look at the rate at which churches proliferate in our present day society. Sadly, crimes in the society also proliferate at almost the same rate. This is absurd!
To reduce immorality in our society, people must be sincere in their dealings with one another and learn to do things in the right way. There should be no room for tribalism, favouritism and godfatherism. Whatever positions of authority people occupy must be based on merit. Again, money should not be seen as everything.
Finally, people should be taught to be contented or satisfied with what they have. The virtue of hard work selfless service and sacrifice should be encouraged, extolled and rewarded. Ill-gotten wealth should be confiscated by the government and their possessors punished. These and more will sanitise the society of its immoral acts.
Ajiga is of the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), Port Harcourt.

Mark Ajiga