USING THE ETHICS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A JUST NIGERIAN STATE

Abstract

This paper studied the ethics of African traditional religion among Nigerians; and discovered the extent of the development in Nigerian traditional communities through the sources of the traditional religious ethics which includes Supreme Being, ancestors, divinities/deities and community. Today; development has been misinterpreted as only materialistic without the accord match of human character/ behaviour. African traditional religious ethics is a holistic one that recapitulate the spiritual life that considers very importantly the relationship between man and the spiritual beings; man, and the fellow man, the community and material development.  The paper also argued that because African traditional religious ethics emphasis on human relationship with God and other spiritual beings, it is a religious one. The work established that the ethics is also evident in the sacredness of human life, love, peace, traditional leadership, and property ownership of both individual and communal, honesty, fairness and so on; these resulted to the just traditional African communities. It is the view of this paper that if Nigerians can reflect and put in practice the ethics of African traditional religion, the country can enjoy again a just Nigeria state.