Moral values determine political, economic success – Fayemi

The level of a country’s economic and political successes is determined by the kind of moral value the people of that country have. This is according to the minister for solid minerals development, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

Fayemi made the assertion while delivering a lecture at the 10th Annual Lecture Series organised by Woman in Management, Business and Public Service, WIMBIZ. “The Nigerian state is a product of the Nigerian society which is itself a product of the Nigerian character,” he affirmed.

According to WIMBIZ, the Annual Lecture’s focus is to get people, particularly women to rethink their values as change agents and bearers of moral ideals.

The objective is to move participants past the base level of money to self-actualization and challenge them to rethink their definitions of success by looking inwards in an effort to understand what other metrics with which they can define themselves and still have a sense of self-fulfilment, particularly in the age of economic strife.
Fayemi explained that the success of Nigeria’s political and economic policies is dependent on having the right moral foundations that could support such policies.

“Reorientation of values is necessary to drive the sort of transformation we want to see in our economic and political sectors,” Fayemi said at the lecture. He contended that all sectors of the Nigerian life are reeling from a crisis of values. As such, no meaningful development can take place.

“The state of our politics and governance simply reflects the society’s moral condition. Many of us are given to cutting corners and trying to attain inordinately disproportionate returns on relatively small investments.
“We are not as averse to cheating and exploiting our fellow beings as we should be.

“The decline of the common good as an anchor of public morality is coterminous with the ascent of money as the primary indicator of success in our society.”