MORAL EDUCATIONAL VALUES IN THE FAMILY FOR SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The institution of the family is the first and smallest moral unit of every nation-state in the world. Without the family, there would not be any community of human persons within a territory with sovereignty, government, power and authority. Its establishment implies the establishment of the nation-state (F ᴐ N). The nation-state consists of units of the family. These units form the institutions of the state as an art and science of government administered through judicial, legislative and executive arms. The moral education of the nation-state begins from the family. The negation of the family (~F) is the negation of the nation-state (~N). When the family is negated, the nation-state is negated (~F ᴐ ~N). When family values are negated and national values are negated, there cannot be national development [(~F . ~N) ᴐ D]. The family is a system where every member is linked with all other members in the mystical body of complex interrelationships. The family is not only seen as a social and psycho-biological unit of human reproductive continuity. The problem of Nigeria’s sustainable development stems from family negation which strips the nation-state of the moral values that engender sustainable national development. This four-part ethical discourse adopts an analytic and evaluative methodology starting with a background study after an introduction. Whereas the second part is on ethics and moral education, the third part is on family values and national development. Before the critical evaluation and conclusion, a nationalitarian ethic of development, in the fourth part, is established for national and transnational development.