Ethical principles and values in Governance refers to morals and ethical behaviors, processes, procedures, culture, ways of doing and being that make certain high standards of performance, economy, effectiveness, usefulness, efficiency, quality, satisfaction.

Ethics, Values and the Nigerian Society By Emmanuel Afolabi

Scholars have argued that ethics is the distinctive behaviour of people with a moral rectitude; some say it is the moral principle that controls or influence a person’s behaviour. Ethics is about our actions and decisions. It is important because it makes the society more stable, it helps us to choose right actions over the wrong ones. It is an important part of the basic civilized society.

Values provide guidance as we determine the right versus the wrong, and the good versus the bad. They are our standards. Typical values include honesty, integrity, compassion, courage, honour, responsibility, patriotism, respect and fairness.

To a large extent, we are shaped by our cultural and societal setting, and its values imprint themselves on our minds in ways most of us are unaware of; our stances on issues and our attitudes about things are directly linked to our innermost thoughts and feelings. When one acts in ways which are consistent with our beliefs (whether secular or derived from a moral authority), we will characterize that as an ethical act; when one’s actions are not congruent with our values – our sense of right, good and just – we see that as an unethical act.

In Nigeria, ethics has been reduced to individual preference; national values have been bastardised. Many Nigerians perceive ethics as controversial, given the lack of rules in conducting our activities in the society. There seems to be no defined objective manner to differentiate right from wrong in the Nigerian context. We can attest to this based on the poor social values and rampant unethical practices that pervade our society, as few Nigerians would deny the fact that there is lack of basic human values in the society today.

The Nigerian society is peculiar; we seem to do almost everything differently, including the wrong things. Our differences in Ethics and Values affect our society greatly. The majority of conflicts among the various ethnic groups in Nigeria stem from our view on what is right and what is wrong, because the way we behave and react to situations is usually based upon our ethics and values.

Our Political activities, Business activities, Academic activities, Social activities, and even Religious activities all point to one thing – the continued decomposition of ethical and moral values in our society. We are being crippled by our reluctance and refusal to cultivate right attitudes towards doing things, which is one of the reasons we are being stigmatised in foreign countries.

Our way of doing things, or ‘The Nigerian factor’ as some might argue, is an elusive term, but one thing that is certain and that can be easily defined within the context of our societal development is that of the need for attitudinal change towards the promotion of ethics and values in our clime.

Even though we cannot deny or take away the fact that most of the acts of indiscipline that we suffer today have their roots in our socio-cultural patterns, political process, economic system, psychological orientation, family background, leadership behaviour, value system, modernisation process, lack of motivation and our lack of commitment to religious tenets, it is in our best interest not to use all these as an excuse to continue to roll in this mud.

What has happened to respect for human life and basic social values in Nigeria? What criteria should guide our activities? Should our actions be based on common human feeling and social welfare or our personal utility? Why do we conduct ourselves properly abroad but act unethically when we are back here at home? – For instance, we hear of lecturers that study abroad under convenient conditions but come back home and subject students to inconveniences; Politicians and government officials travel out regularly and see the level and standard of infrastructural development overseas but come back home and find it difficult to do same here even with enough funds; the Nigeria Soldier on peacekeeping duties abroad is constantly commended by the United Nations for showing high level of professionalism in the conduct of his duties, but once he returns home he immediately resorts to acts of indiscipline; Traders and Business men go all the way to China to get Chinese companies to reduce the standard specification of goods to be sent to Nigeria so that they can buy these goods at a cheaper price and make extra profits off their fellow Nigerians; it goes on and on in every other sector of the Nigeria society.

There is need for us to devise a framework for a change in our ethical standards and values; we must see attitudinal change as a necessary ingredient in positively renovating our society; we must be patriotic. We must create an innate transformation of attitude and strengthen ethics and values in our society through intensified application of the rigour of ethical system for the inculcation of autonomous morality.

Education and orientation also go hand in hand in promoting and creating awareness on the need for ethical values. Ethics should be introduced into our school curricular from the primary to tertiary levels as compulsory subjects.

The role of religion and our religious leaders cannot be overlooked as Nigerians are known to be deeply religious people. Churches and Mosques should preach morals and promote ethics and values among members (  https://www.facebook.com/unilagpressclub/posts/ethics-values-and-the-nigerian-society-by-emmanuel-afolabischolars-have-argued-t/750202505015520/).

Credit to the College of Arts at the University of Mississippi

T E P U | Unapologetically Ethical

Proposed Transatlantic Egbeazien Open Psychology University aims to partner with universities designed to complement all students' major programs as well as provide enhanced ethical groundings. This approach is designed to provide students with a vigorous training in ethical reasoning as it appears within a variety of applied fields, and an ability to analyze moral arguments proposed to help the society get better. At T E U we believe that attitudes and institutions across Africa we change by making students of any major add core ethics learning  in their studies. This is because Ethics directly or by implication will familiarize students with the nature and types of moral reasoning that are applied to areas of everyday experience, such as:

social service careers;

business, marketing, management, and sales;

law enforcement; media and public relations;

medicine and the delivery of health care;

civic life; and

personal life in the roles of friend, lover, partner, parent, child, man or woman, and tribal person.

Proposed Transatlantic Egbeazien Open Psychology University is not a UNIVERSITY at this time, but it is an Ethics-based Online Education that aims to be partnership or have links with:  

https://www.learnworlds.com/how-to-start-an-online-school/ https://moodle.com/lms/

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/mst-practical-ethics

https://online.nebraska.edu/program/critical-and-creative-thinking-ma-ethics-and-values-603ea08e682dd1000766eafd/

https://www.liberty.edu/online/arts-and-sciences/bachelors/minors/ethics/

https://www.stthomas.edu/law/compliance/

https://continuing.ryerson.ca/public/category/courseCategoryCertificateProfile.do?method=load&certificateId=175366

https://practicalethics.virginia.edu/

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/distance/philosophy/global-ethics.aspx

https://study.com/articles/Ethics_Degree_and_Certificate_Programs.html

https://www.ucf.edu/online/degree/ethics-certificate-theoretical-applied/

https://www.onlinestudies.com/Masters/Ethics/

https://www.bachelorstudies.com/Honors-B.A.-in-Ethics-and-Contemporary-Social-Issues/Canada/Saint-Paul-University/?_gl=1*i8gjga*_ga*MWhyMGdoX3c0TGpRalhJaHoxdUxBcVUtRExlRjJreGFTMnJ0LWtDV0FvMFVLUTNoWmxQTWMwb0RvRmkzc041MQ..

https://www.stu.edu/ethicalleadership/home/master-of-arts-in-ethical-leadership/

https://www.bachelorstudies.com/Honors-B.A.-in-Ethics-and-Contemporary-Social-Issues/Canada/Saint-Paul-University/ _gl=1*i8gjga*_ga*MWhyMGdoX3c0TGpRalhJaHoxdUxBcVUtRExlRjJreGFTMnJ0LWtDV0FvMFVLUTNoWmxQTWMwb0RvRmkzc041MQ..

https://www.ccu.edu/ccu/cags/education/?keyword=%2Bonline%20%2Beducation%20%2Bbachelor&campaign=10770670920&campaignid=10770670920&adgroupid=104874983183&adid=506415073188&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6NmHBhD2ARIsAI3hrM2a7wXhQNn_aN6rjWFeMUUW1V8VCeSIcbOp8r8DEZ4IyB3PCH7pmTkaAsmIEALw_wcB

https://gallaudet.smartcatalogiq.com/2020-2021/Undergraduate-Catalog/Undergraduate-Education/Undergraduate-Majors-and-Minors/Department-of-History-Philosophy-Religion-and-Sociology-HPRS/Philosophy-and-Religion/Minor-in-Ethics

https://www.castleton.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/ethics-minor/

https://www.adelphi.edu/program/undergraduate/ethics-public-policy/

https://manhattan.edu/academics/majors-and-minors/ethics.php

https://www.fordham.edu/info/21412/master_of_arts_in_ethics_and_society

https://www.masterstudies.com/MA-in-Sports-Ethics-and-Integrity/Czech-Republic/CUPFPES/

https://www.masterstudies.com/Master-in-Applied-Ethics/Netherlands/Utrecht-Uni/

https://www.onlinestudies.com/Corruption-and-Governance-MA-(online)/United-Kingdom/University-of-Sussex-Online/

https://www.masterstudies.com/Masters-Degree-in-Applied-Ethics/Spain/Universidad-Complutense-de-Madrid/

https://www.masterstudies.com/M.A.-in-Ethics-Corporate-Responsibility/Ireland/MDIE/

https://www.masterstudies.com/Care-Ethics-and-Policy/Netherlands/University-Of-Humanistic-Studies/

https://www.masterstudies.com/MSt-in-Artificial-Intelligence-Ethics-and-Society/United-Kingdom/University-of-Cambridge-Murray-Edwards-College/https://www.onlinestudies.com/Media-Ethics-and-Social-Change-MA-(online)/United-Kingdom/University-of-Sussex-Online/

https://www.masterstudies.com/MA-in-Ethics/Ireland/MDIE/https://www.masterstudies.com/Master%E2%80%99s-Care-Ethics-and-Health/France/Universite-Bordeaux-Montaigne/

https://www.masterstudies.com/Masters-Degree-In-Ethics-And-Democracy/Spain/Jaume-I-University-(Universitat-Jaume-/

https://libarts.olemiss.edu/ethics-and-values-minor/

https://bulletins.psu.edu/undergraduate/colleges/liberal-arts/ethics-minor/

https://www.metrostate.edu/academics/programs/practical-ethics-minor

https://catalog.seattleu.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=37&poid=7979https://manhattan.edu/academics/majors-and-minors/ethics.phphttps://catalog.bentley.edu/undergraduate/programs/minors-business/ethics-compliance/

https://www.uvu.edu/catalog/current/departments/philosophy-and-humanities/ethics-minor/

https://catalog.oregonstate.edu/college-departments/liberal-arts/school-history-philosophy-religion/applied-ethics-graduate-minor/

With the online provision of internationally recognized degrees African students, can also take advantage of T E P U’s Virtual Learning Centers.

T E P U will officer some financial supports to students in Africa and provides opportunities for studies towards online degree programs awarded by American, European and British universities. With T E U state-of-the-art digital learning platform, students in Africa can gain access into various educational materials.