Re-Engineering Values Education in Nigerian Schools as Catalyst for National Development

Abstract

The decay in the Nigerian society has affected the standard of values and moral character formation. This has manifested in so many anti-social vices. Anti-social behaviour exhibited include corruption, dishonesty, greed, violent crimes, lack of accountability, indiscipline, disrespect to constituted authorities, laziness, low moral courage among many others. All these have constituted a serious moral problem for the Nigerian State and have constrained all sincere efforts targeted at achieving national development. This paper having reviewed the weak values system in Nigeria strongly recommend the re-reengineering of values education in Nigeria schools as catalyst for national development. It is the view of the authors that the pursuit of national development is first attitudinal and so the citizenry should be given new orientation that goes to ensure the overhauling and reconstruction of the total values system in the society for obvious national development to be guaranteed. The authors advocated as a matter of necessity the development and introduction of a national policy on values education as a references instrument which will be used as a realistic paradigm for behavioral transformation and ethical reorientation. This is one sure way of attaining national development