From classroom to communities: How “Path to follow” is rebuilding morals and character for national transformation
By Bonny Alaneme
Nigeria’s greatest asset is its people. But technical knowledge without character and civic responsibility cannot deliver sustainable development.
The Path to Follow – Basic Morals and Civic Knowledge Project is a national intervention designed to deliberately teach values, citizenship, and social cohesion to students, youths, and communities.
Every Friday in a public secondary school in Gwagwalada, 45 minutes are set aside for a subject that is not included in the WAEC or JAMB syllabus. There are no textbooks, no scores, and no rankings. Yet, students say it is the most important class of the week.
The class is called “Path to Follow – Basic Morals and Civic Knowledge Project.”
It is a simple idea with a bold ambition: to teach Nigerian children honesty, respect, civic responsibility, and tolerance before they graduate. The initiative is driven by civil society organisations, with research led by the Africa Polling Institute (API).
Nigeria has no shortage of policies, infrastructure, or technically trained graduates. What the country lacks, according to API’s 2023 National Values Survey, is trust. The survey found that 68 per cent of respondents identified a lack of integrity and social cohesion as major barriers to national development.
“We can build the best roads, but if the people driving on them have no discipline, we will still have accidents,” says Prof. Bell Ihua, Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Polling Institute. “National transformation must start with human transformation.”
That is the gap the Path to Follow project seeks to fill. Working in partnership with schools, faith-based organisations, and community leaders, the initiative delivers weekly, story-based lessons on moral values and civic knowledge. Topics range from “Why I Should Not Cut the Queue” and “My Tribe Is Not My Enemy” to “What Citizenship Really Means.”
The approach goes beyond classroom lectures. It relies on dialogue, role-playing, and a weekly community action task that encourages students to put values into practice.
In six pilot schools across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa State, early results are already encouraging.
School principals report a 50 per cent reduction in cult-related fights and bullying. Students have introduced “Sanitation Fridays,” during which they clean markets alongside their teachers. Parents also say their children now challenge adults on issues such as bribery and littering.
“Last month, our students mediated a clash between two communities during a football match,” one principal recalled. “They stood in the middle and said, ‘We are different, but we follow the same rules.’ That is Path to Follow.”
The project is not working alone. The Africa Polling Institute (API) provides the research and data backbone by conducting baseline and impact surveys that measure changes in trust, social cohesion, and civic behaviour among students and young people. This ensures that the programme is evidence-based rather than simply well-intentioned.
Education stakeholders believe the initiative addresses a critical gap in the country’s education system.
“We teach children how to pass examinations, but not necessarily how to live together,” an education commissioner observed. “Projects like Path to Follow, supported by the Africa Polling Institute, are helping us rebuild that foundation.”
The next phase is ambitious. The project aims to expand to 100 schools across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones by 2027, train 1,000 teachers, and launch a digital version for out-of-school youths.
For Nigeria to industrialise, expand trade, and strengthen national unity, it needs more than GDP growth. It needs citizens who believe in their country and in one another.
As one JSS3 student said after class: “Before, I thought Nigeria was just my state. Now I know Nigeria is my neighbour.”
That is the power of 45 minutes. That is the path to follow.
• By Bonny Alaneme is Journalist & Strategic Communication Specialist in Abuja
