“Navigating Morality in a Lawless Society: Survival vs. Ethics in Nigeria”
This captures the core conflict of doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, especially in the context of lawlessness and survival.
“Sometimes, people find themselves doing what seems right, but for reasons that are far from pure. In Nigeria, the drive for survival often blurs the lines between justice and self-interest. Lawlessness has become the rule, and doing ‘the right thing’ can be tainted by motives that don’t align with morality.
Take the people who follow the law, not out of respect for it, but out of fear. Is this truly righteousness, or simply an act of self-preservation? The law becomes a tool, not of justice, but of control. And in a society where the government fails to protect its people, where corruption seeps into every crevice, this complexity deepens.
There’s a difference between guilt and complexity of essence. Guilt is tied to the act — clear, direct, a violation of law or conscience. But complexity — that’s much harder to define. When a person acts out of desperation, when survival demands bending their ethics, they are not simply guilty. Their essence, their core, is in conflict.
In Nigeria, it’s hard to separate the criminal from the victim. Is the person who bribes a police officer guilty, or are they simply navigating a system that doesn’t give them a choice?
This is where the essence of humanity becomes tangled with guilt — where lawlessness forces people to ask themselves: Am I doing this because it’s right, or because it’s necessary?”
