Restructuring the Nigerian State for sustainable development: The value challenge

Abstract

This paper seek to argue that the underlie maxim behind any reform in any given social structure is to provide a sound collective framework that will lead to improvements in the social welfare of the aggregate people in the society. Thus, the role of the state as constituting the engine of growth and development of the country in this regard cannot be overemphasized. States like social system is an entity made up of interconnected and interrelated parts, be it political, economic, cultural, family, educational etc, in which each part affect the other in some way and the system as a whole. It therefore follows that if the state must survive and be an active catalyst in driving development, its various parts must have some degree of fit or compatibility on the basis of value consensus, where every members of society agree on certain definable ethos of individual liberty, freedom, discipline, probity, accountability etc enshrined in the various parts of the social structure of the society to shape and guide our collective behaviours, attitude and motivation. The paper further emphasizes that development that is sustainable can only arise when there is a revolutionary change in the institutions of society and economy that brings about change in attitudes and behaviours of the state in promoting and protecting the public good and not one bent on regulating the status-quo. The paper finally concludes on the premise that for development to thrive, a nation must be driven by a philosophy of internalized, pragmatic collective values that is highly supportive of hard-work and enterprise and a developmental state that is manned by a highly skilled technocratic bureaucracy and a close cooperation between major economic groupings such as agriculture, business and labour, and not values that reflect goals and aspirations formulated by the governing class for society at large.