By Osaretin Ekiadolor
Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists, (NUJ) Abuja Council, Comrade Chuks Ehirim has said that the quest for transformation of the Nigerian state must be done with due diligence to ethical practices in all spheres of our life as a nation.
The NUJ chairman said this when he received the Executive Director, Center for Promotion of Ethics and Values, (CENPEV) Dr. Mercy J. Sokomba, who led management team of the organizations on a courtesy call to the Chairman at his Office in Utako.
Ehirim said the nation was in urgent need of ethical crusaders to revamp the true moral values embedded in the true cultural heritage across the various societies of Nigeria.
He commended the organization for its decision to take the crusade of re-orientation of younger minds in secondary schools across the country as a way to stem the rot in a renewed approach to imbibe ethics and values in all facets of our lives.
He condemned the increasing trend of young ladies who pose on the streets of Abuja at night calling for sexual patronage from men especially the economically empowered members of society whose wealth should have been directed at empowering vulnerable of the society towards honourable source of earnings.
According to him: “The Coordinator of Society Against Prostitution and Child Labour in Nigeria SAPCLN was here on a courtesy call recently and she lamented the manner in which young ladies turn our streets to red zones at night ;young ladies invite men in the open.
“These are very strange things. It is condemnable, the kind of things leaders in Nigeria do this days, were things that were considered completely abominable. So, there is an urgent need to have people like you (CENPEV) who will give a second look at the collapse of ethics and the first place to start is from those who are coming up probably before they get sucked in by this malady.
They will be told that this is the right path to follow and this is the wrong thing to do. So the target audience of school children which you have chosen is perfectly in order. We commend you for that,” he stated.
Comrade Ehirim assured the CENPEV of partnership which the director requested to promote the restoration of ethics in legitimate practices across board for a better Nigeria.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Director, Center for Promotion of Ethics and Values, (CENPEV) Dr. Mercy J. Sokomba, solicited for partnership with the FCT council to promote ethics and values through publicity of their activities as part of national assignment for all Nigerians.
She said CENPEV is established to re-engineer the minds of Nigerians especially the younger ones towards good works guided by ethical values for a sustainable nation building “We are transforming Nigeria through restoration of Ethics and values; we are seeking for partnership with the NUJ on Business Ethics and values.
“We believe that the younger generations are the ones that we really need to work on in terms of restoration, transformation and building them to imbibe the culture of ethical values in all their practices so that it would be part of their behavior in all endeavours, she averred.
