Cultural Heritage and the Social Dynamics of Building Strong Institutions in Nigeria

Abstract

Several scholarly debates have proven the fact that, without solid Social Institutions, a society cannot realize even the basic societal task of growth and sustainable development. In a situation such as this, the tendencies for citizenry to tilt towards heinous crimes and other harmful practices would certainly be high. Therefore, interrogating the social dynamics that enable nations realize their past history, know what to preserve and how to connect such with existential realities of contemporary times becomes a necessary proposition especially in Nigeria. From a feminist perspective, if the dominant ideology in social institutions craves for women to be perceived as second fiddle and subservient to men in a society already experiencing Globalization, cultural diffusion and technology, then there will be suppression of the female gender, such as inheritance rights. The paper argued that, even in contemporary times, the Nigerian nation still lacks solid Social Institutions, and by means of that still struggling to adapt to new cultural conditions with dominant ideology that can help maintain powerful social, economic and political interest for both sexes. Needless to say that, in recent decades, there has been a lot of exchange of ideas and concepts, through a worldwide integration of cultures, social movements; government policies that the Nigerian nation is yet to key into. Using qualitative descriptive analysis of primary and secondary data centered on conflict theory which lays emphasis on the importance of interest over norms and values and how societies are characterized by inequality, the paper assert that, strong Social Institutions as mechanisms of social order should be encouraged to produce social needs such as family, education, healthcare, religion, and politics.