ETHICS, CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF THE WAKIRIKE (OKRIKA) PEOPLE OF NIGER DELTA, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Wakirike (Okrika) in the Niger Delta. The paper will show how ethics, culture, and environment intersect. Cultural values shape environmental ethics, and sustainable environmental practice requires ethical frameworks rooted in culture. The rate of environmental degradation in Wakirike, by extension Nigeria, is alarming; this trend has become a source of concern to every well-meaning individual. This is very worrisome, owing to the fact that if the environment is not safe, the inhabitants and other species, including our cultural heritage, will be in danger. Our environment is depreciating on a daily basis as a result of unwholesome practices such as deforestation, gas flaring, oil exploration, and unethical cultural practices, stealing, widowhood practice, and homosexuality.