Panelists at a recent lecture in honour of former president of the Association of Court Judges, Ekiti-State, Pa Akinwande Adeosun have blamed the country’s problems in all spheres on the dominant lack of integrity among Nigerian leaders and the citizens.

Speaking at the lecture with the theme: “Integrity: The Cornerstone of Building a Prosperous Nation,” to mark the 80th birthday of Pa Adeosun in Ado-Ekiti, the panelists were unanimous in their submission that Nigeria’s current economic, political and social crisis is due mainly to the relegation of integrity, over he years, in every facet of life in the country.

They added that this can only be resolved through conscious efforts by all to return to the old ways of the forefathers.

In his remarks, the pioneer Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), Dr. Olufemi Lalude, told guests that Pa Adeosun, well known for his uprightness and integrity will, like any of his peers, shudder at what the country has degenerated into over the years.

“Nigeria today is currently in a major state of crisis because integrity and honesty of purpose, which was one of the key foundations on which the traditional Nigerians society was built by our forefathers, has broken down almost irreparably. We are almost at a point of no return in rebuilding the society that we used to know,” he said.

Lalude, known to have rejected a $6 million bribe offer while he was SNEPCO MD lamented that lack of integrity is the root of all the problems facing Nigeria today.

“Although people talk about so many things that are wrong \in the society, there is no time I think about all the problems that I don’t always come back to the issue of lack of integrity in the society today,” he stressed.

He defined integrity as a vital component of one’s character that enables one to fully consider and take into account the interest of other people or the society at large both in the way one lives one’s life and the way one interacts with the society at large.

Also, he described integrity as the soul of any nation adding that a nation hardly survives after it completely loses integrity in all aspects of its life.

“We started losing integrity in Nigeria many years back. Step by step, things were getting worse and gradually we have now moved to the serious situation we now find the country today. We now live in a society where people cannot move about freely any more. People’s lives cannot be guaranteed any more. People get cheated at every turn. People don’t receive their dues whether in the area of education, in the market place or even politically. We run a society in which people are crowned and not elected,” Lalude further submitted.

Also speaking in the same vein, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Igbomina West, Kwara State, Rt. Rev. Olajide Adebayo prayed that God would restore integrity, honesty, self respect and character to Nigeria.

According to him, the word “integrity” seemed to have been removed from the Nigerian dictionary.

“In Nigeria today, you will agree with me that everything is almost lost. Be it in the hospital, in the church, the market place, in offices, character is missing. Integrity which is the foundation on which character is built is missing and so we are living in poverty because when integrity is missing, poverty becomes prominent.

“As a way out of the situation, Bishop Adebayo proposed that Nigeria should return “intentional” religious and moral education to schools at all levels.

“We should restore home training and the ‘Omoluabi’ syndrome to every home. Every home should take time to train their children. We should restore the extended family system into our day to day life. We must tell the children their family history, what is acceptable and what are the family ideologies,” he concluded.

Similarly, a Professor of political science at the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Femi Omotosho in his presentation also stressed the need to see integrity in terms of justice, fairness, accountability and honesty.

“It is the totality of these that will make a country to progress. It will bring about the prosperity of the nation,” he submitted.