BOOK REVIEW: RETHINKING LEADERSHIP FOR NIGERIA’S DEVELOPMENT: AN IBIBIO ETHICS AS PARADIGM TO ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

Abstract

Tolerance or rejection of corruption in a given society according to Adekunle and Ishaya (47) is a function of the economic system, the character of the state actors, the social structure as well as the dominant social values and laws of the country. Etymologically, corruption is derived from the Latin word corruptus, which means broken or destroyed. Thus, corruption literally means a breakaway or departure from the norm, from morality, ethics and civic virtues. A further analysis of these terms will reveal that morality implies principles, values, goodness, decency, probity, honesty and integrity while ethics connotes moral code, beliefs, traditional practices, habits, conventions, customs, laws, rules, decrees, and commandments. Civic virtue, on the other hand, implies public opinion of merit and quality. Thus, corruption is the destruction or breakaway from what is good, from laws and from merit. It is the subordination of the interest of the larger society for personal interest.Interestingly, after many years of political independence, corruption hasproved to be a virulent national pest in Nigeria, easily defying every measure aimed at tackling it. The general assumption is that everybody knows what it is and that it is bad and killing the nation which is why every government has always declared its intention to vigorously tackle it. The big questions however are ‘how did we get here and how can we get out?†(Okpo, 9).