Terzungwe Inja

African environmental ethics has come a long way in advancing theories that would, (i) prove the existence of African philosophy to the rest of the world; (ii) show the efficacy of age-old African practices in sustaining the environment; and (iii) point out the African non-anthropocentric path towards preservation, conservation, and sustainability of the environment. However, there seems to be a misunderstanding of personhood as it applies to African environmental ethics, leading to the claim that the latter is essentially anthropocentric and offers no unique contribution to environmental ethics in general. Thus, a sound understanding of personhood in African thought would help to clarify the kinds of value, rights, and worth that are extendable to nature within African environmental ethics. It is against this backdrop that this paper highlights how personhood serves as the ontological foundation of African environmental ethics. To achieve this goal, the paper examines the concept and status of personhood within the ambit of three theories of African environmental ethics: (i) Segun Ogungbemi’s Ethics of Nature-Relatedness, (ii) Godfrey Tangwa’s Eco-bio-communitarianism,and (iii) Mogobe Bernard Ramose’s Ubuntu Ecology. The paper concludes that personhood lies at the root of the examined theories of African environmental ethics and determines the kind of worth they have extended to nature.

Nigeria is currently grappling with a serious crisis of values, reflected in widespread corruption, moral lethargy, lack of patriotism, illegality with impunity, and the decline of traditional ethical norms. This paper approaches the problem through the lens of Alasdair MacIntyre’s virtue ethics, which offers a fresh way of thinking about Nigeria’s predicament. MacIntyre is particularly concerned with the fragmentation of modern moral discourse, which he ascribes to the dominance of emotivism and the decline of moral traditions. His reflections suggest that solving Nigeria’s moral decay cannot be achieved through surface reforms alone; what is needed is a deeper commitment to rebuilding virtue within human hearts and communities. Data were sourced from journal articles, books, and the Internet. It was assessed via the analytical and evaluative methods. Drawing on MacIntyre’s central ideas, it was found that moral renewal in Nigeria requires a return to virtues that promote inter-cultural unity in pursuit of the common good. Another finding was that in practice, Nigeria’s moral degeneracy can be curbed by a revision of moral education curricula, cultivating good role models, and strengthening social institutions that encourage virtuous behaviour. While acknowledging the challenges of applying MacIntyre’s thought in a society marked by political misrule, judicial injustice, religious impiety, and cultural diversity; the paper concludes that MacIntyre’s virtue ethics is a valuable tool for mitigating the problem because it offers, not just abstract theory, but a coherent vision for moral renewal. Keywords: Nigeria, Crisis of Value, Moral Lethargy, Virtue Ethics, MacIntyre.