Very Rev. Fr. Michael A. BANJO

Sixty-five years after independence, Nigeria stands at a crossroads. We rejoice in the gift of freedom, for self-determination is the dignity of every people. With the Psalmist, we declare: “What great deeds the Lord worked for us, indeed we are glad” (Psalm 126:3). Our gratitude goes to the heroes who secured our liberty and laid the foundations of nationhood.

Yet this anniversary compels us to look beyond celebration. For while our nation has survived wars, transitions and dictatorships, we remain burdened by corruption, insecurity, weak institutions and the erosion of values. We are rich in human and natural resources, yet poor in outcomes. We are blessed with potential, yet trapped by mismanagement. At this point in history, Nigeria must choose: shall we continue on the path of decline, or shall we embrace the harder but life-giving path of renewal? That is the meaning of standing at a crossroads. Our decision today will shape the Nigeria our children inherit tomorrow.

The Long Journey of a Young Nation

In sixty-five years, we have recorded moments of resilience: a civil war survived, military regimes overcome, and democracy sustained despite imperfections. We have produced men and women of courage who excel in faith, science, sport and the arts. The Nigerian spirit is admired for energy and ingenuity. Yet for every triumph there is a shadow. Corruption has eaten deep into our institutions, insecurity stalks communities, education is underfunded, healthcare is fragile, and politics often degenerates into a struggle for power without service. Nigeria has stood tall in promise, yet stumbled on the same stone of moral failure. Mahatma Gandhi’s seven social sins – wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice and politics without principle – find painful expression in our national life.

At the Root: The Family and the Formation of Conscience

The true crisis of Nigeria is not economic but moral. At the root of our failures lies the neglect of authentic family values and the collapse in the formation of conscience. The family is the first school of discipline, respect, sacrifice and social responsibility. When it breaks down, the nation cannot stand. On this, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has spoken with clarity. In paragraph 3 of their September 2025 Communiqué, the Bishops describe the family as the domestic Church, the bedrock of society, and call parents the first educators in faith and morals, urging them to nurture children with discipline, love and Christian values. They remind the nation that healthy societies arise from healthy families, and that sound families require responsible, God-fearing parents. Scripture affirms the same truth: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). This wisdom is timeless. Children grow into adults carrying the formation that they receive in their earliest years. Tomorrow’s governors, judges, business leaders and lawmakers are today’s children. If their consciences are malformed, their future decisions will reflect that defect. Nation-building begins not with constitutions or infrastructure, but with the shaping of children. A child properly formed becomes an adult who builds and serves; a child left without formation becomes an adult who exploits and destroys. Our nation needs sanatio in radice – healing at the root; the root being the family.

The Erosion of Family Values

Over recent decades, Nigeria has watched the steady decline of family life. Parenting has grown lax, discipline is withheld, respect for elders and authority has diminished, and hard work is despised in favour of dishonest wealth. Many children grow up believing that success is measured not by honesty or labour but by fraud and cunning. Religion, meant to guide conscience, is too often commercialised. Marriage, meant to be stable, is dishonoured. Schools, meant to cultivate learning, sometimes harbour malpractice. Community sacrifice gives way to an aggressive individualism that places self above the common good. The consequences are plain. Kidnapping, ritual killings, internet fraud, drug abuse and shameless corruption scar our common life. And now, the children of yesterday who were not properly formed are raising another generation in their own image. Nemo dat quod non habet; no one can give what he does not have.

Why Laws Alone Cannot Save Us

It is not that Nigeria lacks laws. We have the Criminal Code, the Penal Code and the VAPP Act. Yet crime and corruption flourish. Laws cannot transform the human heart. They can restrain, but they cannot renew. The true safeguard of any nation is not the number of its statutes, but the conscience of its citizens. What Nigeria needs is a moral reawakening. As Pope Paul VI observed, authentic renewal comes when the Gospel penetrates the values people embrace, the models they imitate and the choices they make. Transformation happens when conscience is formed and values are internalised. This is the rebirth Nigeria requires.

The Way Forward: A National Reawakening

If Nigeria is to rise, renewal must begin in the home. Parents must reclaim their sacred duty as the first educators of conscience. Schools must be places not only of knowledge but of moral formation. Religious leaders must proclaim the truth with courage, resisting the temptation to trade integrity for popularity. Civil society must promote honesty and service. The media must inspire virtue as well as expose vice. Government, too, must recognise that development begins not with budgets and blueprints, but with character formation. A renewed national orientation programme is urgent, one that restores authentic African and Christian values to family and society. Without this, corruption will continue to sabotage progress.

A Call to Hope

Nigeria is at a decisive moment. Our children will inherit the nation we build today, and the values we instil in them will determine its destiny. If we fail in forming them rightly, we will fail the future. Yet we must not despair. Even in brokenness, there is hope. The God who has carried this nation through storms can renew her still. In this Jubilee Year of Hope, we proclaim that Nigeria is not beyond redemption. With families recommitted to raising children of conscience, and with citizens willing to choose integrity over corruption, the nation can be reborn.
Nigeria at 65 must not pass as a mere number. It should be remembered as a turning point, a wake-up call and a commitment to rebuild from the roots. If we repair the family, we will repair the nation. If we form consciences rightly, we will form leaders rightly.

May God bless our families, and may God bless Nigeria.

01 October 2025

Very Rev. Fr. Michael A. BANJO is the Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja.