Serving the Common Good of Society: Reflections for the Socio-Political Transformation of Nigeria

Abstract

Christians who occupy positions of responsibility are to be carefully prepared for political, economic and social tasks by means of a solid formation in the church’s social doctrine, so that in their places of work they will be faithful witnesses to the gospel. – Ecclesia in Africa, #90 At the core of what has come to be known in Catholic Christianity as the Social Doctrine of the Church, following the publication of Leo XIII’s ground-breaking encyclical, Rerum Novarum is St Thomas Aquinas’ doctrine of the Common Good, a vision of society where the good of each member is bound to the good of the whole. It is considered the raison d’etre of all politics. It consists primarily of having the social systems, institutions, and environments in which we all depend, work in a manner that benefits all the people. Ordinarily, the common good is a good to which all members of society have access, and from whose enjoyment no one can be easily excluded. It may as well be described as the collective good. This means that politics is expected to cater for the needs of all and of each member of society. This is why in what is known as the principle of subsidiarity, society or the State is expected to provide social safety nets for the most vulnerable and to serve as helping hand to those who have the will to achieve a place in the sun but simply lack the means. The common good is so important that if it is lost sight of, politics becomes sterile and bastardised and loses its soul and the weak in society become objects in the hands of the powerful, who invariably end up as in the days of the prophet Amos, grinding the face of the weak in the dust and selling the poor for a pair of sandals. And this generally eventuates when politics is excised from morality.