Dishonesty Culture has Permeated the Entire Country, Including the Judiciary, J.S.Okutepa

I think we have embraced a culture of dishonesty so much so that we are now too far from the original cultures of the people of Nigeria. This culture of dishonesty has permeated every part of our society. There is a culture of dishonesty in the legal profession too contrary to and in contra-distinction to the morally and ethically based philosophy of that noble profession.

It is this culture of dishonesty that has crept into the legal profession which has now led some members of the profession to defend and promote the appearance of impropriety but have chosen to promote and defend impropriety as core values and mandate of the profession.

This culture of dishonesty has also permeated the executive and legislative arms of government in Nigeria right from the time of colonial rule to the present day. It started small and grew big in the most dangerous geometric proportion and dishonesty seems to be the norm of governance in our society. If not for these cultures of dishonesty rooted in impunity how do you as government functionaries approve funds to pay for jobs not done?

No one thinks of the good of others any more. The society has become a slave to iniquities and dishonesty even in the ecclesiastical world.
It is these cultures of dishonesty that have produced the Yahoo Yahoo boys and girls. The culture of dishonesty is everywhere. It is there in the academic. It is there in businesses. It is there in matrimonial homes. It is there in the judicial arm of government. It is there in the social and cultural lives of our people.

Our traditional institutions have in most cases been overtaken by a culture of dishonesty. Our forefathers were honest to the values of our traditions in those days. But today most traditional institutions are dishonest to the core values of their traditions and cultures to the extent that a lot of cultural injustices are visible for all to see.

It is this culture of dishonesty that has produced praise singers of failures in governance. The majority of government appointees see nothing bad in what is bad. Every act of government even when it does not promote public good is good in the sight of these appointees. It is this unfortunate culture of dishonesty that has landed us where we are today in Nigeria.

It is this dishonesty that produced a double face and double standards. Today some are honest in public speeches but dishonest in practical terms in dealing with issues that affect the vast majority of the people. I do not know how we get here. The majority of businesses are done very dishonestly