ETHICAL REORIENTATION FOR POSITIVE ATTITUDINAL CHANGE: AN URGENT NATIONAL IMPERATIVE

Man by nature is a social being and inherently gregarious and thus has come to live in communities of various descriptions. Since man cannot live in isolation, then theneed to socialize is inescapable. However, social life demands orderliness, and to ensure its existence, norms and rules is an integral part and a compass for the ordering of the bevaioural patterns of the inhabitants of the society in question. This orderly behaviours are termed ethics and morality. Ethics are code or set of principles by which men live. it is the code which guides the actions and inactions ofmen in the society. No wonder, Barclay (1972) refers to it as “the science of behavior”, Larcey (1976) views it as “the study of whether they are any values each and every person should pursue, whether there is a set of virtues as a code ofprinciples of conduct for everyone and what this are if they do exist”. In the same vein, Uduigwomen (2006) opined that “ethics is synonymous with moral, connoting customs, habits and accepted ways of an individual or society. However it is not an exaggeration to say that, some members of both human communities and societiesexhibit behaviours that totally goes in discordance with those set aside or enshrined by the community. Those who exhibit such acts are labeled deviants or perverts andtheir actions termed criminal when sanctioned by the laws of the state. It is on the premise or consequence of the afore stated, that Nigeria, like many other countries of the world, has witnessed high level of activities which deviates from the conventional norms of the society and as a consequence becomes inimical to the good and development of the nation. For decades, efforts have been made by different regimes with different programs, policies and mantra to stem the trend but we wake up each day and see them staring at us in the eyes. These unethicalbehaviours have led to the incessant kidnapping, robbery, insurgence, internet fraud, drug abuse and other vices that are detrimental and inimical to the good of thesociety. It is however, at the bedrock of these that the paper tries to examine and bring to bare, the paramount and importance of ethical reorientation and how the resultant effect can lead to the nation’s overall development. The paper sourced data from secondary sources such as articles, journals and the internet. As such, the methodology use is the secondary sources of data collection.