REVERENCE FOR LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS IN NIGERIA: AN INDIGENOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL REAPPRAISAL

Abstract

This paper critically examines Albert Schweitzer’s ethical principle of Reverence for Life and its relevance for environmental ethics in Nigeria. It introduces Schweitzer’s Biocentric ethic, which holds that to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil, alongside Nigerian indigenous worldviews that traditionally honor the sacredness of land, life, and nature. There are a lot of environmental challenges in Nigeria such as oil pollution in the Niger Delta, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and desertification in the North. Despite these challenges ethical reflections on the human nature relationship remains marginal within environmental governance and philosophical discourse in Nigeria. The major problem herein is the utter disregard for life, especially non-human life. The concern is that African countries, including Nigeria, have so far failed to articulate sustainable ethics to curb the excessive abuse of life, particularly non-human life. Using; analytical methods, this article finds that destruction and devaluing of life stem from human insatiable greed and egoism. For this reason, it argues that Albert Schweitzer’s principle of reverence for life offers a strong ethical basis for environmental accountability in Nigeria. It also examines the alignments between this principle and indigenous African worldviews, suggesting a culturally embedded approach to rethinking environmental justice that bridges philosophy, religion and practice.