SOCIAL EVILS IN NIGERIA
There has been a great increase in moral decadence. in the country. Many Nigerians, especially youths are insatiable in their desire to get rich quickly. They want to get rich quickly in their greed and love for excessive materialism. Bribery s the order of the day while embezzlement of public funds by government officials is prevalent in the country nowadays.
This development has become a matter of constant discussion on radio. television and newspapers. Its social evils have dangerously threatened the very existence of our society. and is now smelling like a bad sore.
The causes of these social maladies can be traced to the warped or twisted societal values of our people. Nigerians do not cherish hardwork and diligence nowadays. Those who acquire material wealth by crooked means are praised and honoured, while the hardworking but poor people are not respected simply because they do not have money:
Therefore, as a result of this, many Nigerians do not believe in hardwork and perseverance. An average Nigerian is greedy and everybody wants to own and ride exotic and flashy cars at all cost. They want to possess as many houses as possible and many servants as their greedy minds desire to possess. This has led to many Nigerians, especially youths to engage themselves in various forms of social evils like armed robbery. bribery and corruption, embezzlement and other forms of social malaise. All that they want is to acquire material wealth, in most cases, by crooked means since material acquisition speaks louder than such respected virtues and values like hardwork and honesty. As long as you can get wealth, nobody wants to know how you acquire it.
Another cause of the social evils is the low level of discipline and morality in our various homes and families. Most parents are not honest themselves does not and they encourage their children to acquire wealth by all means, no matter how crooked such means are.
The Nigerian government, at the various levels, doesn't help matters too as top government functionaries and officials embezzle public funds at will. Public funds are converted to personal uses and policemen collect bribes from drivers, smugglers and even from armed robbers. Honesty is no longer the best policy. The honest man now finds out, with great disappointment, that he is a misfit in the society.
However, can it be altered? If not, what hope? What future? I strongly believe that there must be a way out. Where there is a will, there is a way. This means that if we want to bring an end to these social evils, there must be a change in our hearts. Once our hearts get the right message, I am sure that all the social evils will be eradicated.
The Nigerian society should change its values and put honesty and hardwork above any other thing. The government should put into practice the principle of reward and punishment. And it should be stipulated that anybody found guilty of committing any of these social evils should be treated in the same way as armed robbers. On the other hand. government should reward honesty and query ill gotten wealth.