RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, ETHICAL ORIENTATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Résumé

Nigeria is a multi-religious society with three main religious traditions that have outstanding ethical values. However, the country is bedeviled with so many ethical problems that have implications on national development.Therefore, this study examines the interface between religious education and ethical orientation with a view to utilize the ethical values in the three main religious traditionsas basis to address the problems of national development in Nigeria. Data for this study were gathered through observations, news media, text books, and journal articles, and subjected to content, constructive, and critical methods of analysis. This paper avows thatChristians, Muslims, and African traditional religious worshippers in Nigeria may disagree on the nature of God, or religious rituals, but they all agree on certain universally acclaimed ethical values, which can be utilized to inculcate moral values in the life of citizens to address issues ofnational development. Therefore, there is the need to harness and harmonize the ethical values in Nigerian tripartite religious heritage to form an ethical basis for national orientation in order to facilitateall-inclusive development agenda in the country.