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Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has lamented the level of moral decadence in the society whereby the love of money has displaced values and norms such as honesty and hard work.
Obasanjo disclosed this on Friday in Ibadan, Oyo State during the inauguration of the Prof Abayomi Oluwatosin Jiboku Building and Entrepreneurship Centre at the Lariken International College.
The former President said material possessions such as money, cars and the number of houses an individual owns should not be put above positive contributions to society when measuring one’s level of success.
According to Obasanjo, it was inappropriate of Nigerians to jettison the values of integrity, truthfulness and love for one’s neighbours with the strong desire to get rich quickly and by all means.
He, however, said nobody could buy his conscience, no matter the amount of money offered.
He said, “One of the ways we have problems in our society today is the values we cherish. Money-making is the value now pervasive.
“In Yorubaland, money-making is not one of the values that we take to. Omoluabi, truthfulness, integrity, truth, industry and hard work were our values. Where have they gone? Why have we put them aside and all we are striving for is money? Where is honour in our values?
“Nowadays, anyone who has money can buy anything but not with me. If you have money, you cannot buy my conscience and support for anything. In any case, if you have all the money in the world, of what purpose will it be?
“How do you describe success? I define success as you making a place better than you met it. It is not the amount of money you have, not the number of houses built, not the number of cars you have. It is how much you have contributed to making a place better than you find it.”
He lauded the standards of the college while stressing that there was a need for the school curriculum to be designed for the training of both the mind and the hands.
Obasanjo said, “If we are going to get out of insecurity, banditry, Boko Haram, kidnapping and other criminalities, we will have a long gestation period of training and educating all Nigerian children.
“Education is the beginning of the life well-lived. God has given each and every one of us innate abilities. It is when those innate abilities are developed that we can be the best in our own self-service, in the service of our nuclear and extended families, in the service of our community and in the service of our nation and the world.”
This post was written by Obiajulu Joel Nwolu.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.