Corruption in Nigeria: a revisit of African traditional ethics as a resource for ethical leadership

Abstract

The problem of leadership and corruption in Nigeria is a known fact. A good number of Nigerian politicians and top government officials do not think that politics has anything to do with ethics. Currently, injustice is displayed in all spheres of Nigerian life. Indigenous moral values are almost completely ignored and abandoned. Nigeria no longer operates according to the hallowed observance of the rubric ‘Aa kii see’ (it is not done). It is no longer a society of law and order, crime and punishment, good behaviour and adequate reward. It is no longer a society which recognises the principles of abomination/taboos, or what the Yorubas describe as eewo. Taboos represent the main source of guiding principles regulating and directing the behaviour of individuals in the community. However, experience has shown over the years that politics’ functional peak is only attainable with the help of ethics. Politics based on the ethical principle of social equality is one of the indispensable features of true democracy. For politics to be effective and meaningful, ethics must not be forgotten. Politics without morality produces unethical leadership. This study claims that, the much desired political moral uprightness is achievable in Nigeria, if African traditional ethics is harnessed as a tool in solving the problem of unethical leadership and corruption, especially embezzlement. The thesis also attempts to show that, through reinforced moral education for both young and old, it will become more accepted that morality is the backbone of politics and it must not be ignored.