 Recently the president launched the national ethics and integrity policy and the core values of this policy are human dignity, participation, patriotism, personal responsibility, integrity, national unity and professionalism. The policy is founded on section 23 of the constitution which provides that the national ethics shall be disciplined integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance and patriotism. Secondly, this conversation comes on the 60th anniversary of our nationhood and I think that this is particularly for treacherous because perhaps the most notable activity marking our diamond jubilee has been the debates in various forums on whether the journey so far can by any measure be described as successful. Most of the reflections have sought to answer the question by some rough and ready measurement of our current level of development, giving the opportunities, the potentials that our country possesses and also how our behaviour, the behaviour of our political and business elite, our religious elite, our politics, policy decisions have shaped those outcomes. The point to be noted is that practically all discussions on our national policy so far centre around development and for good reason this is by far the most important dynamic in measuring individual or communal success. This is why any discussion on values is only really useful if it is based on values as praxis that is tied to the question of how such values will influence or impact the development of society or in our case the development of our nation. This point is particularly important because it is possible for us to have a lively discussion of the importance of values in and of themselves, values as virtues which are useful in the purpose of higher and many times spiritual, individual or communal purpose. This is not my focus in these remarks, rather I am focused on the existential role of values in the socio-economic development of the nation and I will illustrate my point just for brevity by just two examples as I go along. Shipping our discussion on values as a fundament of development is also important because it helps to focus the individual and communal mind on survival especially economic survival which is dear to the heart of all and by this I mean that if we shape our discussions around our value system around what is most dear to the hearts of most of us which is our economic survival it is very helpful because it directs everybody's mind to how it is that our value system will promote us, will promote our economic survival as individuals and as a collective eventually and also how it will promote our social development first as individuals and then as a collective. Any other paradigm will almost invariably fall in our minds into the category of the exaltatory of the moral preachments and there are many who will say that there is already a surfeit of moral preachments and exaltatory precepts on values. So the value system we need is one that promotes national development and especially socioeconomic development. It must be capable of engendering unity and a shared vision. It must provide a causal connection with economic development. The end result is the creation of a happy society. It won't have time to define a happy society but I'll just leave it at that. I just wish to go back to those three points that I've made the relevance of the value system. So the first is that it must engender national unity and this is very important. The second point and you know by national unity we'll talk about several of the issues around national unity. The second point is that there must be a way by which our value system helps to focus our minds on a shared vision. It must provide a causal connection with our economic development. In other words we must be able to say that this set of values conduces to economic development in a particular way and it must also be one that is capable of showing us and showing the individual that a happy society, a community that is happy, a community of people that are prepared to live together and work together is possible on account of this value system. So for purposes of national unity for example we must accept that unity and peace are important outcomes but the condition predicate for both unity and peace is justice both both legal and social justice. So in our context justice includes the notions of fairness of equity of equality and it is significant that our constitution is actually replete with references to these themes. So our constitution our films for example that the February Republic of Nigeria shall be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice and it also asserts that the state social order is founded on the ideals of freedom equality and justice. So it's obvious that the mandates of our public institutions must be to transparently ensure that there is fairness in the availability of opportunity to all regardless of tribe religion or gender or any other considerations. The primary criterion should be merit I must spend just a bit of time on this. First the availability of opportunity and I'm saying that the public our public institutions must be equipped to provide opportunities that enable everyone to have access to opportunities regardless of tribe religion or gender. But the primary criterion should be merit while inequalities may be addressed by affirmative provisions such as federal character the primary consideration should be merit. Emeritocracy is crucial in an economically viable value system because it rewards talent and enterprise and it is talent and enterprise that will drive sustainable growth. I want to make this point because you know time and time again we get arguments around the question of whether the dominant principle in appointments for example to public institutions should be federal character. The dominant principle should be merit. Federal character is essentially affirmative. What it seeks to do is to create a balance but even if we were to create that balance that balance should still be should still be based on merit. So for example if we say that a particular zone should produce a particular candidate for whatever position that zone should be required to provide or to produce the very best and it is possible to find the very best. What you find repeatedly is a situation where the choices are not based on merit and of course everything simply goes around the whole question of well all we're trying to do is to create a balance. But meritocracy is crucial as a value in and of itself and the moment that we depart from meritocracy we cannot tie a value system to development in any meaningful way. The rule of law the administration of justice is also at the heart of a beneficial value system. The uncompromising prosecution of criminal activity the fair and just adjudication of civil disputes is fundamental to any notions of a strong value system one that would deliver national development. These institutions that must deliver these values must themselves be deliberately invested in both in terms of material infrastructure and the quality of personnel. Where the institutions for resolution of conflicts and disputes are trusted and judicial outcomes are preponderantly fair and predictable unity and stability are clearly more likely and this is very important especially with respect to judicial institutions in the choice of judges. The appointment of judicial personalities is crucial in determining whether or not these institutions will be able to deliver on the value of justice. This is completely intuitive where you have judges that are not picked on the basis of their integrity and their knowledge and competence then anything is possible. So we must invest in the quality personnel in quality individuals and quality materials for judicial appointments. So the whole question of who is appointed, how they are appointed, the examinations and tests that they must go through, the scrutiny, the public scrutiny that they must go through must be considered as important parts of the whole creation and establishment of a value system. These are the practical details they're not some votes if you like of a value system that will deliver on the promises that it has passed. Inherent in integrity as a value are precepts such as trust, trustworthiness, honesty and the keeping of commitments. While these are also important moral precepts for our purposes we emphasize the concrete economic and social values that they bear. In other words, fidelity to integrity is essential for the attainment of socioeconomic prosperity. The important point anyway is to build a value system that is based on integrity. Now that value system must be one where we are able to show that integrity pays. In other words, we're able to show that there is economic and social benefit in being a person of integrity. So that it goes beyond mere moral punishment or mere exhortation, it really delivers concrete value. In addition, hard work, innovation and thrift are all economically beneficial values. We see for example that in the wealthier societies, thrift enabled the accumulation of capital through savings and investments. While the pursuit of literacy, which was inspired by the esteem in which knowledge was held, permitted the development of human capital. These two trends were crucial for the development of those nations, economic development of many of the wealthier nations. So economic growth rests upon the substructure of values. The basis of the entire credit system, as we know is trust. Indeed, the word credit itself is derived from the Latin word credere, to believe or to trust. For a credit facility to be extended to a person, trust is placed in the borrower and his or her willingness and ability to repay. So when we say that there is a credit crunch, we're referring essentially to a lack of trust. These are significant implications for the economy. Bank cannot lend to people when fraud is widespread, where default is widespread, where enterprise and industry and of course as we know enterprise and industry cannot flourish without credit. Financial institutions may also be reluctant to lend because they cannot trust that the government will remain consistent with regulatory policies. So for the same reason investors may be discouraged from investing. When we speak of investor confidence, we are merely describing the level of trust that investors are willing to place in an environment. So sometimes citizens may suggest that they do not trust that their taxes will not be embezzled due to official corruption. So they are likely to see any real value in paying taxes. If people stop trusting the media, they're more likely to fall prey to merchants or fake news, which can have a destabilizing effect on the nation. When everyone is self-seeking, there can be no trust and without trust it's impossible to sustain the sort of society that we're talking about. So the significance of trust for the workings of the economy and society are far-reaching. And I think that this bears repeating that trust is not just a moral value. It is the entire foundation of fruitful and of a viable society. It is fundamental to economic development. It's fundamental to social development. It is fundamental to practically everything that a society is based on. Trust is fundamental, as we've seen through credit. It's fundamental to the relationship between government and the people and the relationship between the investors and the economies in which they want to invest. Then let's just take a quick look at how patriotism works, especially in building the value system. So we know and we do not need to define patriotism, but very often, you know, we're called upon to be patriotic. But we know that belonging to a team and feeling that we are part of a team is important in engendering patriotism. So for example, when Nigeria is playing a match anywhere in the world, we are all very patriotic Nigerians. In other words, I mean, as you know, every Nigerian is watching and we're cheering our team along and we're and some are praying and you know, just exerting our team and hoping that we win. So we can very clearly see that whether it's a shared vision and where we feel that we're part of a team is not so difficult to be patriotic. So there's a sense in which patriotism calls for people feeling that the government has their back. So when people are called upon to be patriotic, it works both ways. In other words, people do not necessarily are not necessarily patriotic because they've been asked to be patriotic or because they've been taught to be patriotic, but they're also patriotic because they feel that they have government working in their favor or government watching their back. And so it's a so there's a mutuality here that needs to be satisfied in balance, that needs to work. And this is important in building a value system that is based on patriotism. So just as I round up, what are the practical steps that we need to take? I think that one of the most important steps is the teaching of these of these precepts, the teaching of our value system. But the teaching of our value system, of course, is not as important as exemplify in leadership the values that we seek to build. But teaching is crucial. The teaching is crucial. And I think it was general gone who mentioned that we need to go back to the teaching of history and civics. Of course, we introduce history, but the teaching of civics and the teaching of our value systems from the very early age, the teaching of our constitution, the rewriting of our history, such that it represents accuracy and it projects what we've done right. It projects our values. It projects what is the essence of the Nigerian and what is the essence of our moral values, of our ethical values, is crucial also. And this teaching has to be done deliberately. It has to be planned deliberately. Part of that is already going on in the new curriculum that the Ministry of Education is working on, trying to see how we can inherit policies, the ethics and integrity policy in our teaching curriculum. The other point is in rewarding these values, aside from the economic rewards of these values and pointed out what those economic rewards must be. Our society and government must also reward these values in significant ways. So our national honors national performance must be based on merit and must be tied to our value system so that those who are given national honors are persons who all of us can see deserve it, especially as we tied to our value system. So when our kids are taught in school, when they are taught our value system in school and they see those who earn national honors, they're able to tie what they're taught to those they see are being celebrated. These are important connections. They're practical ways, I think, of ensuring that we're able to rebuild our national value systems and ensure that the value systems endure and that the value systems make sense for our economic development. Thank you very much for listening.