RELIGIOUS ETHICS: A MECHANISM IN BUILDING A SOCIO-MORALLY DEVELOPED LEADERSHIP STYLE IN NIGERIA; A LESSON FROM ABU-BAKR MODEL

ABSTRACT

By the ongoing trend in civilization and globalization, the concept of morality has come to the point of depression which is constantly affecting the development of Nigeria as a nation. The culture and civilization that was introduced to the Nigerian has eroded us of our heritage and morality which has been our watch word. But the deed is done; the western culture has eroded us from development which we are in daily quest of. Therefore, attention is now on religion ethics as a way out of this menace because it is accorded that every Nigerian belongs to one religion or the other. Thus, the question is asked, what are the fundamental teachings of these religious organizations? And what are its principles in bringing Nigerian out of their confused state of mind. Therefore, this work is aimed at examining the relationship between socio-moral living, leadership development and religious ethics in the Nigerian nation. Hence, attempt is made in examining the concept of religion, ethics, moral behaviour and national development. This paper study Abu-Bakr inaugural address in preparation of the people for good governance and compared it to the contemporary Nigeria by drawing out some salient issues. The methodology used in this paper are comparative and library approaches and the work ends with the notion that if Nigerian can abide with their religious ethical codes, the building of Nigeria to a developed nation will be an easy task.

KEYWORDS: Religion ethics, Socio-moral behaviour and National development.