THE MORAL DETERMINANTS OF NIGERIA’S NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE LIGHT OF ISA 1:16-17

Abstract

If national development presupposes the ability of a nation to harness its human and natural resources for growth and advancement to its full potential, then Nigeria is a long way off. Her human capital development and socio-economic growth have been abysmally poor in contemporary experiences, caused by her retrogression in those fronts. Nigeria has retrogressed because her leaders and citizenry have largely become preoccupied with corruption which eulogises cosmetic solutions to her problem rather than time honoured and enduring ones. So, the basic indices for sustainable national socio-economic growth are currently to a great extent neglected. And those that were in place, have been through decades of neglect, reduced to the shadows of their potentialities with no possible hope of revampisation. This article contends that one area that has contributed to creating this ugly situation is the fall in moral rectitude in Nigeria. Using discourse analysis, it argues that the content of Isa 1:16-17 offers the attitudinal dispositions Nigerians need to adopt in order to develop the nation and make her grow.