IKA WEEKLY – Hard work, honesty, accountability are virtues that were given prominence in African societies. In Ika land, these values were held in very high esteem, making it possible for people to adhere strictly to societal rules and regulations.
These days, however, almost all our cherished values have been consigned into the trash basket of irrelevance, prompting a social decay that emits pungent odour.
It is not uncommon now for somebody, coming out from nowhere, without any visible and verifiable source of income, flaunting riches. And society, having been subdued by unimaginable greed and loss of sound moral content will begin to applaud, singing well constructed praises of the individual concerned.
Today, well known fraudsters (419) and ritualists are being eulogized in all quarters, even by our traditional institutions, who fall over themselves to confer chieftaincy titles on these societal predators, and the church which reserve ‘special places’ for them, because they are seen as the financial backbone of the church.
Nobody gives recourse or a second thought to how these individuals come across their wealth. We are only concerned with the flashy cars, jewelries, mansions, expensive clothes and the huge amounts of money they are ready and willing to dispense to an ever greedy, selfish and morally depraved society. Questions are no longer asked. Those whose responsibilities, as it were, to call these people to order are the ones at the fore-front, singing their praises and indulging them in their pollution of our values.
Our social environment have become polluted by the activities of these individuals. What they are doing is impacting negatively on our children, who are watching and internalizing these vices that have held the society hostage.
The in-thing now is for people to go into government with the sole purpose to embezzle public fund. No more fear in their hearts. Parts of these looted fund they take to the house of God and no question is asked.
We are therefore calling for a return to our old, cherished values and days when hardwork and honesty were respected.
All institutions, both government, religious and traditional should brace up to the challenge of redirecting our people’s orientation.
Our people should stand up to correct these ills that have overtaken our society. We must all go back to our old values.
We must stop worshipping money, for as it is written in the Holy Book “The love of money is the root of all evil”. Let us all start now to clean our society of all negative influence and ill-gotten wealth.
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