HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? AN ETHICO-THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON THE QUESTION OF CITIZENSHIP AND INTERETHNIC RELATIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Every nation is grappling with challenges of national cohesion and growth. Finding an overriding principle that will keep a country in steady growth has been one provocative issue. Such challenges are compounded for a country of ethnic and religious diversity. Since the creation of Nigeria as a country, this kind of diversity has been its biggest problem. The country is perplexed by disunity as well as the collapse of values that could build, grow and sustain it socio-economically and politically. The question that Francis Schaeffer raised for hisAmerican society is valid and applicable in the Nigerian situation today: This How Should We Then Live? research assumes that the right answer and adapting to it could help to change the situation in Nigeria. This research follows Schaeffer's suggestion that the application of God's standards for our society should be our defining principle, the virtues required for which can be inculcated through two primary structures, namely, the family and the school. The study also recommends the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural policies that Australia has practiced effectively with great results.