ETHICAL CRISIS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This article analyses ethical crisis and its implications on Nigerian sustainable development.  The theory of utilitarianism serves as the framework, while the qualitative research method, which uses secondary sources of data such as textbooks, journals, newspapers, internet sources, documents from international agencies, etc., was adopted.  The data were analyzed using content analysis. Analysis reveals that ethical crises or failures inherent in Nigeria are corruption, politics as warfare, reckless pursuit of power, lack of accountability, personalization of administration, diffusion of attitudinal orientations, and electoral fraud. The finding further reveals that ethical crisis portends some implications for sustainable development in Nigeria. These include divided loyalty, which affects work decency, low productivity, inability to conduct free and fair elections, corruption, etc., which make the actual realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) difficult to achieve. The paper concludes that sustainable development, economic stability, and political stability remain elusive due to unethical values exhibited by the Nigerian citizens. The paper recommends, amongst others, that for the SDGs’ promises to be significantly actualized, ethical behaviour should be promoted by individuals, and the value of integrity should be internalized in Nigeria.

Keywords: Ethics, Values, Development, Sustainable Development, Corruption