IMPACT OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, CHANGING IN CULTURAL VALUES IN THE SOCIETY

Every society has its peculiar culture. Culture is the totality of the way of life of people in a particular society. Values mean general code of conduct binding members of a society together. From values emerge norms which are specific codes of conduct. It has often been said that we are in a jet-age where everything is changing at a supersonic speed. It becomes expedient, therefore to examine the level at which Nigeria’s cultural values are changing vis-à-vis national development. The cultural values of Nigeria includes the emphasis on the extended family system, religious beliefs, morality, neighborliness, communalism, agricultural practices, modesty in dressing, honesty, integrity, care for the elderly, charity and so on. Unfortunately, many of these values have changed for the worse. Firstly, there has been a tremendous increase in individualism, which has eroded the values placed on the extended family system and kinship.
Modern life encourages going it alone hence, many Nigerians have adopted this lifestyle of everyone for himself, God for us all. Secondly, morality has nosedived in Nigeria. There are incessant cases of rape, arson, nudity, indecent exposure, divorce, etc. all these are some of the indicators of a breakdown of morality. Thirdly, religious beliefs in Nigeria have been replaced with the two major world religions: Christianity and Islam. Practitioners of both religions are often at dagger drawn with themselves in a fruitless battle for supremacy. This has generated religious tensions and loss of lives and valuable property. Fourthly, communalism has broken down in Nigeria, as ethnic conflicts have become the order of the day even among people who have lived together for thousands of years. We now emphasized ‘indigene’ and ‘non-indigene’; ‘state of origin’; ‘local government of origin’ and very soon ‘blood of origin.’ These are clearly anti-development. In the craze for modernism, Nigerians have abandoned the farmland for non-existing and mostly unproductive white-collar jobs. This has generated a severe food crisis in Nigeria, which hinders Nigeria’s development, since what is in the head is a function of what is in the stomach. Just like in the Western world, the elderly are no longer revered like before. Growing old is synonymous with growing down rather than growing up. Additionally, it is necessary to point out that our present exercise of wholesale replacement of our values with western values as demonstrated in our preference for foreign goods, music, make-up, clothes and dressing can only further underdeveloped us beyond centuries of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism. We need to overcome import mentality and focus on what we can achieve. If we continue to prefer and import items from tractors to toothpicks and airplanes to fruit juice, then of all countries, we are most miserable. The solution is to base our developmental planning and actions on the positive side of our traditional values. The current copy-cat system can do no one no good.
Happy 54th Independence to our great country.
Goodluck Umahaodoho Abuja; (lucky_2014@ymail.com) 08097017290