Traditional and religious institutions. . .
It’s indeed a good thing to operate by a yard stick or guidelines, especially when the sacredness of human dignity depends on it. Traditional and religious institutions have from time been the instruments through which orderliness and law are being enforced and maintained without the use of force.
The importance of these two institutions can never be over emphasised as both have always played key roles in shaping a person’s or individual’s mental, psychological, spiritual and moral well-being.
Tradition and religion sometimes imposes on us a heavy burden of responsibility, of standing by it to define us as a people or individuals. In other words, our morals and values are by products of choices basically stimulated by the ethics of these two major institutions.
There is no doubt that the family is the smallest unit of the society yet one of the strongest influencers of the child’s early life,as it is indeed the formulator and builder of character even as it is it’s right as the first agent of socialization, the child gets to interact with and in the process, pick up the basic essentials of what the society expects from him or her. Incidentally, these same standards observed as yardsticks are determined by traditional and religious beliefs which are handed over from one generation to another over time.
In time past it was the responsibility of these two institutions in their varying capacities to draw the attention of a failing leader or leaders, towards the prevailing unpleasant situation that may be troubling or occuring in the land either as a result of bad policies or genuine avoidable leadership blunders, or worse still might be sheer insensitivities of leaders towards their subjects especially when it concerns the people’s lives and properties as it is being experienced from time to time.
As years went by however, tradition and religion became a bane on which many societial conflict have at different times erupted. Sadly, issues pertaining to tradition and religion are so sensitive that it can borne without much efforts. Ironically, these two are the instruments upon which lasting peace can be founded but that has not been the case, since most custodians of these two institutions are now majorly controlled by government through incentives, governmental appointments, recognition and commendations.
Over the years, many traditional rulers as well as religious leaders may have forfeited their rights to certain moral justifications because they fell victims to compromise and no longer have the right to vent their displeasure at the failure of severing leaders in the corridors of power.
