THE UNDERRATED VIRTUES OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, located in West Africa and sharing boarders with Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger is a multinational state inhabited by more than 250 ethnic groups speaking over 500 distinct languages. Nigeria is blessed with a wide variety of rich cultures and traditions with three national languages recognised namely; Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.

Once popularly known as the giant of Africa, National Development has been a vital key in ensuring that the nation maintains its status quo as the leading Nation in Africa. However, due to a number of vices such as corruption, slowly but surely, Nigeria is beginning to rely on her past glory. 

As a canter worm in every Nations development, corruption, insecurity and a high level of poverty has eaten deep into the very flesh that makes up the nation. Hence, it has become vital that certain virtues must be prevalent among the people that make up Nigeria before any significant National Development can occur.

National development is the overall development or a collective socio-economic, political and technological advancement of a country. National development in Nigeria as regards to the lives of its citizens has improved greatly since the time of her independence in October 1st 1960 till date.

The virtues that are usually emphasized for national development are; saying “no” to corruption, honesty etc. Meanwhile, there are underrated virtues that are not heavily emphasized on. These include virtues like; National Consciousness,  Patriotism, Selflessness, Integrity, and Discipline.

National consciousness is a shared sense of national identity and a shared understanding that a group shares a common ethnic, linguistic and cultural background. With National Consciousness, each Nigerian will ensure that the common goal of the Nation does not become jeopardised in his/her hands. 

Speaking further, Patriotism is another underrated virtue of National Development, It is the feeling of love and devotion and a sense of attachment to a homeland and alliance with other citizens who share the same sentiment. An awakened sense of Patriotism in Nigeria will indeed go a long way in National Development. 

Selflessness is a tendency to regard the well-being of others as more important than one’s well-being. You would find out that most often than not, in Nigeria, it is common for the average citizen to think about himself and only himself. The consequence of selfishness is that every man is left for himself, therefore there is zero consideration for the other mans rights and privileges hereby hindering National Development. It is submitted that selflessness as a virtue would invoke a high rate of National Development.

In addition, Integrity is another underrated virtue. It is the adherence to moral and ethical principles, soundness of moral character and honesty. It’s no gainsaying  that with integrity, National Development is sure. Lastly, Discipline, that is actions or inactions that is regulated to be in accordance with a particular system of governance is a vital virtue for national Development. 

In conclusion, the contribution to national development to the nation as individuals, units or organization is to uphold the nations core values and to carry out our civic responsibilities. Through these, our investments in national development will ultimately result in stronger and more effective overall growth, strengthening the nation’s assets. Ctizens of the nation should not shy away from these virtues listed above, instead citizens of the nation should embrace these virtues and put them to practice to aid national development. 

Name:OBOH JUDY ESEOHE

State Code: OS/20B/0048

Discipline: Transport and Logistics Management