The perspective of christian moral education for good governance in Nigeria

Abstract

Successive Governments in Nigeria had adopted several measures to raise both the moral and living standards of the society. Some of the efforts include: Late General Murtala Muhammed’s retirement of alleged fraudulent public officers, “the ethical revolution” of Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s administration, “War Against Indiscipline” of General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Babangida’s “Mass Mobilization for Social Justice, Self Reliance and Economic Recovery (MAMSER)”; and General Sani Abacha’s “War Against Indiscipline and Corruption” (WAIC). President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime also came up with the Fight against Corruption Crusade. In order to achieve this he set up “the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission” (EFCC) and “Independent Corrupt Practices Commission” (ICPC). Furthermore, on August 1st, 2007, President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua’s regime came up with its own policy, named the "Seven Point Agenda". Currently, President Goodluck Jonathan has come up with his Transformation Agenda. However, despite all these efforts, economic experts and policy analysts blame successive governments of failing to achieve their economic goals not because they lacked good plans but because of bribery, corruption, nepotism and social injustices that prevail. Hence, instead of the people benefiting from governments programmes of development; ignorance, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, decaying infrastructure in education and hospital sectors, power outage and ethno-religious conflicts are still prevalent. The paper examined the concepts of governance, good governance, education, moral education and Christian moral education. It further discussed how good governance can be achieved through Christian moral education and made conclusion and recommendations.