Morals are the prevailing standards of behaviour that enable people to live harmoniously in groups. Moral refers to what societies sanction as right and acceptable.
Most people tend to act morally and follow societal guidelines. Morality often requires that people sacrifice their own short-term interests for the benefit of society. People or entities that are indifferent to right and wrong are considered moral, while those who do evil acts are considered immoral. While some moral principles seem to transcend time and culture, such as fairness, generally speaking, morality is not fixed. Morality describes the particular values of a specific group at a specific point in time. Historically, morality has been closely connected to religious traditions, but today its significance is equally important to the secular world. For example, businesses and government agencies have codes of ethics that employees are expected to follow.
Some philosophers make a distinction between morals and ethics. But many people use the terms morals and ethics interchangeably when talking about personal beliefs, actions, or principles. For example, it is common to say, “My morals prevent me from cheating.” It is also common to use ethics in this sentence instead.
So, morals are the principles that guide individual conduct within society. And, while morals may change over time, they remain the standards of behaviour that we use to judge right and wrong.
Against this background, it is time for Africans vis-à-vis Nigeria to be on red alert about the kind of immoral values the Western world is trending on and projecting towards the African continent. It is obvious that civilisation, to some extent, has tremendously transformed the world from the primitive period to the present level, where technology has made the world a global village, which has further brought advancement in the traditional ways of living and production.
Despite these facts, some Western societies are trying to force African/Nigerian societies to imbibe tenaciously their immoral practices, which in the eyes of every sane mind could further demonstrate bizarrely against morality. It is indeed very unfortunate that the world today is beginning to snowball into these bizarre cultures which, if allowed to have its way, will in no time push our long-existing traditional practices to the back stage.
For example, reports have it that what seems to be currently trending is that adultery is allowed in South Africa, and no man or woman has the right to repudiate the other because of adultery anymore.
Meanwhile, the United States has confirmed that for all the countries of the world to establish good relations with the great powers, they must accept same-sex marriage; woman to woman or man to man.
Germany, on her part, signed the law which declares that incest no longer exists, which means brother and sister, mother and son, or father and daughter can get married, etc. The city of Miami is now proclaimed the city of purchasing public sex. Meaning, on the way to church, at the mosque, at the market, at the soccer field, if you need sex, you can enjoy it anytime without any problem.
Canada has authorised bestiality (sex with animals). In Spain, pornographic films are now allowed in high schools and universities. Authorisation for the prostitution of minors has been given. Marg Luker states that any young girl at the age of 10 who experiences sexual pleasure, no one should be deprived of finding out how her body works. Can you comprehend that?
Bonano is not done yet with more immoral bizarreness to come. Finally, the USA has made it possible to open satanic churches publicly. Satanism is approved to be taught in schools in America. In the same vein, the University of South Africa in Pretoria is the first school in the world to offer a BSc Witchcraft. In the face of these new trends, Africa or Nigeria ought not be curious or overly ambitious. The ordinary mind is the way. Humans emulate the earth; earth emulates heaven. Anything we force through does not resonate with the way. Regardless of what they do, it would be best to proceed as they ought to, instead of trying to force anything. Morality is a guiding principle of life that determines man’s actions. In Africa, however, the sense of morality predominates among its indigene such that the world was created well by God and so he expects good conduct from people.
Traditionally, then, Africans attach great importance to good moral living; hence, the moral tendency towards evil often results in physical punishment for evil committed. Just as in the case of wilful murder, or abominations like incest, always incur the punishment of the gods, which could come in the form of sickness, madness, or hardship. “Africans believe that reward or punishment follows every conduct of man, wherein ‘good fortune is the fruit of moral goodness, just as evil is the fruit of moral evil’.
In the same vein, the sense of morality in Africa is informed by a good conscience, which guides man and determines his ethical life. Hence, Africans strive to cultivate a good conscience to shape their behavioural attitude. Must we throw away our values because we want to modernise our pattern of entertainment and make fortunes based on political, economic, and diplomatic pressure drawn from a cursed Western world? Little wonder Confucius, the great Chinese thinker and philosopher, said, “Men who reject discipline and yet are not straight, men who are ignorant and yet not cautious, men who are devoid of ability and yet not trustworthy are quite beyond my understanding.” Bonano rests his case!
