VALUE RE-ORIENTATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:  A PAPER PRESENTED BY THE STATE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ORIENTATION AGENCY, CHIEF ANDY NWEYE AT THE NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP, NONWA BATCH B 2011 ON THE 20^TH OF JULY, 2011.

v The term “value” refers to the worth, importance, desirability and usefulness associated with an object, idea, behavior or phenomenon.

v Core values are the consistent and ending principle which individuals, groups, organizations or nations hold or use to guide and drive their actions and achievements in the course of life and living.  Thus, Core Values remain constant in spite of governmental, technical, social and political change.

v Chapter II, section 23 of the 1999 constitution stated that “The National Ethics shall be Discipline, Integrity, Dignity of Labour, Social Justice, Religious Tolerance, self Reliance and Patriotism.

These seven core values are expected to guide and drive the achievement of National goals by Nigerians.  Specifically, Nigerians political, Economic and Social Core Values are;

POLITICAL

v Patriotism

v Respect for National Anthem

v Recitation of National Anthem and pledge at functions

v Care in handling of the Flag

v Commitment to National Unity

v Participation in the electoral process, census, support for leaders and belief in leadership by example

ECONOMIC CORE VALUES

v Handling of National Currency

v Accountability

v Shunning of corruption

v Patronage of made in Nigeria goods

v Thrift and investment.

SOCIAL CORE VALUES

v Punctuality

v Good Neighborliness

v Child rights

v Responsible citizenship

v Shunning of anti-social behaviors

v Equitable development

v National Integration and dialogue

Respect for one another, elders, constituted authorities and the laws of the land.

PERCEPTION OF CORE VALUES

v Individuals only acquire and identify with  value that enhance their existence and personal survival

v There is underlying assumption that the participants were already aware of the core values and the core values have to be issued to them whatever the circumstances

v The danger in this assumption is that citizens will not readily internalize the core values since they were not part of the process of identifying them.  (There is the possibility of Alienation).

THE WAY FORWARD

It is imperative that we begin to retrace our steps towards revitalizing the moral fiber of all segments of the Nigerian society through the enunciation, propagation and inculcation of appropriate positive values capable of sustaining a modern democratic, scientifically orientated, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural society.

STARTING POINT

Core value is our traditional belief.  It must not be any imported value from western world to us.  Our beliefs must be sustained.

EMPHASIS

The indigenous education, demonstrated that our society had a proud past in terms of uplifting ethnical values.  The advent of western culture eroded vital societal value system because of exclusion and neglect of vital indigenous culture.  For instance, the medium of instruction in our schools today is mainly English language, even though Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba are included as languages to be taught.  This made majority of the students to loose focus of cultural values and norms relevant in our traditional society.

COMMUNITY DIALOGUE/TOWN HALL MEETINGS

People are involved in identifying issues that affect them.  They make purposeful contributions to bring about transformation and development.  Involvement of people in identifying core values has the merit of sensitizing the citizens to them and hence the internationalization of the values.

In virtually all communities where community dialogue is practiced, there is usually the general effort and responsibility by the individuals to uphold and promote values willingly which gives rise to rapid development in such communities.

v Core Values must serve as the driving engine of development, growth and progress.  Therefore, for good governance, there must be value re-orientation to correct the moral degeneration in our society such must necessarily be based on our roots.

v Good governance does not just exist in a vacuum.  There must be conscious efforts by aspiring leaders to understanding governance.

Instances – Governors Amaechi, Fashola and Akpabio understudied their predecessors, Odili, Tinubu and Atta respectively.  They were able to discover the loop-holes in governance which gave rise to squandermania and other corrupt practices.  They were able to close some of these loopholes thereby minimizing corruption and increasing internally generated revenues.   There is no gain saying, that these have been instrumental to the transformation in these states) Rivers, Lagos, Akwa Ibom) within such a short time as governors of their state.

INSTANCES OF RIVERS STATE

v Demolition of illegal structures

v Greater Port Harcourt City

BLUE PRINT ON

v Education

v Road projects

v Transformation etc.

These are people orientated projects trusted to pass the test of time.

THE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, VALUE RE-ORIENTATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:  A PAPER PRESENTED BY THE STATE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ORIENTATION AGENCY, CHIEF ANDY NWEYE AT THE NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP, NONWA BATCH B 2011 ON THE 20^TH OF JULY, 2011.

The dream of every nation is to catapult itself to a high and sustainable level of socio political and economic development in all faces.  This vision, Nigeria also cherishes and has over the years initiated plans towards achieving this however, it has been observed that inspite of these visions which has been in various development plans, coupled with Nigeria’s enormous wealth of resources, there has been a seemingly uncorresponding level of development.

This of course calls for a deliberate attempt by the youths to assume their rightful positions in ushering the much needed development gives the crucial roles they can play in bringing about this.

But, needless to mention is the fact that this can’t be realized going by the prevailing moral decadence among the youths.  Today the youths are characterized by disrespect for authority,  thuggery, kidnapping and other forms of criminality, rape and illicit sexual escapades, drug and human trafficking, drug addiction, advanced fee fraud, examination malpractices, smuggling, to mention but a few.  The youths more or less have been imprisoned and over taken by greed, inordinate ambition, over zealousness and class craze.  The life lifestyles of some corrupt elites have indeed influenced and resharpened their attitudes thus given rise to massive corruption and looting of public treasury to the detriment of the Nigerian masses.  These in no small measure have contributed in constituting as a clog in the wheel of development.

The rise and change in the tempo of moral degeneration among the youths indicate that unless concerted efforts are to stem the tide, Nigeria may well be heading towards disaster.  But as hopeless as the situation seems, the birth of a new dawn is not a mirage if only lessons learnt from past experiences and mistakes are applied appropriately.

The starting point remains inevitably attitudinal change and value re-orientation of the youths.

Mobilizing the youths for good governance and positive change

Capturing the youth for purposeful leadership and good governance hinges on attitudinal change and value re-orientation as already mentioned.  To achieve this, all hands must be on deck, the family, religious organizations, schools, Non-governmental organizations, government, agencies etc.

Attitudinal change must be an all found thing involving both the rank and file.  It should be strictly enforced but in such a way that new changes are willingly adapted to.  It is important to note that compulsion to moral rectitude could lead to defiance and outright loss of the youth if not well handled.

Along this line, leadership must have to be exemplary devoid of all forms of corrupt practices and unhealthy rivalry.  The youths should be tutored and encouraged in the line of accountability and constructiveness.

Patriotism and National integration should be pursued vigorously.  This will encourage them to shun religious or ethnic fracas and focus on factors that unite Nigerian peoples as one.

It’s also important that government provides adequate employment and promote dignity in labour.  This will lead to downward stride in violence including hostage taking and kidnapping which have become an easy means to wealth. 

Moreso, deliberate efforts to create youth empowerment schemes that are home based with the right policies to motivate creativity and productivity should be embarked upon.  The youths should be encouraged to be self employed as well as employers of labour.  This no doubt will lead to an unprecedented economic growth leading to significant drop in unemployment.  The reluctant effect will no doubt translate to socio-political development.

Apart from these, behavioral skills training should equally be embarked upon to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases particularly HIV/AIDs which are rampant among the youths.  A health youth is a wealthy nation.

BE SEEN, BE HEARD

It is time the youths braced up to the current challenges and their responsibilities.  From all indication, the turn of events is moving so fast that unless the Nigerian youths have their eyes on tomorrow, they may never get in touch with today.

The world indeed has become a global village.  Development is shifting from just mere stability and leadership to advances science and technology.  How can the youths keep a pace with the rest of the world?  Certainly not in an atmosphere of chaos and violence since their potentials can only be maximally harnessed in an environment of tranquility.

Similarly, the rate at which HIV/AIDs is ravaging the youths does not mean well for the country. Can the youths really contribute their quota in nation building if they are bedridden and eventually cut off at their prime?.  A healthy nation presupposes a healthy nation as earlier stated.  Any nation that looses its youth has automatically lost its future and hope.  Because the youths are not just energetic or vibrant but constitute a greater percentage of the country’s total population.  Therefore every act that may lead to un-natural  death should be avoided.

In the same vain, students should take their studies seriously.  The quality of future adult life depends largely on the extent to which they take advantage of available o0pportunities for their development.  Otherwise, they will neither be seen clearly nor heard distinctly and so cannot effectively participate in governance.

CONCLUSION

Finally, the youths should wake up to their responsibilities of transforming Nigeria to a great and dynamic nation by turning away from the existing moral imbroglio.  It is only when this is done that the visions 2015 or the noble ambition to put Nigeria among the first 20 economies by the year 2020 will be realistic.

This is the time to think well, say well, act well so Nigeria will move forward.