A former diplomat and activist, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, has warned that integrity in Nigeria is “on the retreat,” arguing that the country is producing a generation that no longer understands its value.
Speaking at the Professor Bassey Andah Memorial Lecture yesterday at the University of Calabar Senate Chambers, Calabar, Toyo said the society has been “totally taken over by tendencies that are directly opposite to integrity,” and that the result is a collapse of standards, accountability, and transparency.
Otoyo, an ex-Nigeria Ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti, said, “Without integrity, a country cannot grow because you cannot have standards, accountability and transparency.
Toyo placed part of the blame on universities, saying the learning environment should build both academic knowledge and character. “When I say I am a product of a university, you are not a product of the learning. You are a product of the encompassing nature of that university,” she said.
Speaking on the theme, Service With Integrity, the former member representing Odukpani/Calabar Municipality federal constituency urged that curriculum reform must prioritise character formation alongside academics.
Turning to the political situation, Toyo said Nigeria was suffering because “the society does not challenge these types of issues.”
She criticised leaders with questionable records, saying, “Impunity has taken over the country,” and added that the more such tendencies are accommodated, the more they become normal.
“As a member of the opposition, I am here to tell you that the APC has to go for their failure to lead well,” she declared, adding that the party had “brought the integrity and reputation of the country into question.”
She called on citizens to act this election year, saying, “It is a year that we must, as a country, speak up about what is good and what is wrong,” Toyo said.
“If integrity does not fight back, it becomes a no-issue.” She urged voters to back candidates with “competence, capacity and character,” stressing, “If people don’t have it, they shouldn’t lead you.”
Chairing the event, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cross River (UNICROSS), Prof. Ikpi Braide, commended the Basssy Andah family and the University of Calabar for sustaining the lecture series for 21 years. “Usually, when people pass on, the family puts up a foundation and does one or two years of lectures and then… it dies down.
“But this family has kept it going for 21 years now,” describing Prof Bassey Andah, as a scholar and church elder whose life reflected the values of service.
Braide defined integrity as “delivering honest, transparent, and ethical service that builds trust and fosters long-term vision and does not focus on transactions.”
He listed trust, ethical conduct, accountability, consistency, compassion, and humility as its core components, saying “integrity is a character… not a skill.”
He questioned whether religious institutions, schools, communities, and families were effectively instilling those values in young people.
Citing John Maxwell, Braide stated that “power is a test of power,” explaining that “in the hands of a person of integrity, it is of tremendous benefit.
In the hands of a tyrant, it causes terrible destruction.” He also quoted Billy Graham: “When wealth is gone, nothing is gone. When health is gone, something is gone. When character is lost, all is gone.
