A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Okutepa, has decried what he described as a widespread decline in governance, morality, and institutional integrity across Nigeria, warning that the country faces deepening challenges if urgent reforms are not undertaken.
In a social media post on his X account on April 16, 2026, Okutepa said the falling standards in the country did not emerge overnight but are the result of years of systemic compromise and poor leadership.
“There is a falling standard of everything in Nigeria. The standard of governance is appalling. Moral standards in Nigeria are completely broken,” he stated.
According to him, the current situation reflects long-standing structural failures, adding that “the foundation for the falling standards of everything including bad governance was laid for so many years back. We are just seeing the manifestations of it today and perhaps many more years to come if something drastic is not done.”
The legal luminary lamented that the country appears to have embraced a culture of failure, driven by personal, ethnic, and sectional interests.
“As a nation we have been planning to fail. No solid plan for high standards of values. We have been compromising so many things that should not be compromised… for personal reasons and sometimes for just tribal and ethnic reasons,” he said.
He further criticised the normalization of corruption and the erosion of integrity in public life.
“We have encouraged corruption and corrupt practices to earn a living. No nation develops on compromised standards of governance and self-serving interests the way we do in Nigeria,” Okutepa added.
Highlighting the decline across sectors, he said the education system, legal profession, and healthcare sector have all suffered from deteriorating standards.
“Students who want to go to universities… cheat to do so. Lecturers aid and abet cheating… The educational sector of Nigeria is rotten like rotten egg,” he said.
On the legal profession, Okutepa lamented the erosion of core values.
“Today integrity and honesty are extremely scarce in the legal profession. Some lawyers are just double faced and enjoy double standards,” he noted, adding that legal practice is increasingly driven by “commercial gains instead of practice rooted in good standards.”
He also criticised the medical sector, saying, “Money has replaced humanity of medical professionals in Nigeria,” while accusing the political class of failing to deliver meaningful governance.
“The political class have mastered the acts of rendering no service to the people… Government and governance are far from the people,” he said.
Calling for a national reset, Okutepa urged Nigerians to return to foundational values of integrity, hard work, and patriotism.
“We need to go back to our roots. The get rich syndrome must be done away with. People must work before thinking of earning and eating,” he said.
He also called for greater national unity and a shift away from divisive identities.
“We must see ourselves first and foremost as Nigerians before our tribes. The idea of identifying ourselves with our tribes and religions must give way to national integration and nationalism,” he added.
Okutepa concluded by urging citizens and leaders alike to promote ethical standards, strengthen institutions, and prioritise good governance for the country’s future.
