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Introduction

Welcome to this week's lessons. Last we I talked about social problems or issues. Meaning of Social Problems and contemporary social problems in different countries.
This week's lessons is on causes and solutions to soical problems.
Please read the lesson with undivided attention.

Causes of Social Problems

(i) Corruption
(ii) Poverty
(iii) Greed
(iv) Unemployment
(v) Laziness
(vi) Death of traditional values
(vii) Lack of parental care
(viii) Disobedience
(ix) Illiteracy or ignorance
(x) Bad governance
(xi) Prostitution.

We will discuss some of these causes

Death of traditional values: For the fact that some countries are becoming more modernized, the values, rules, and regulations of the traditional society are giving way. They are no longer seriously upheld. People move out in great numbers from their towns or villages to cities; and in the cities, nobody knows the other. People do what they like; they disregard our traditional values and no longer put them in practice.

Poverty: Poverty is one of the major factors that cause social problems in our society. Poverty is a state of being poor. Poverty could be caused by lack of jobs, indolence, having a poorly paid job, and lack of determination and commitment to succeed in one's endeavours. Most crimes are attributed to the drive of hunger and penury. Some social problems associated with money or wealth acquisition are touting, prostitution, robbery, kidnapping, etc.

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Greed: In my country, Nigeria, greed is a big problem. We want everything for ourselves and nothing for others. Greed is the desire to acquire more money and materials than one actually needs. This normally leads to evil practices.

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Greed is mainly seen in people who hold public offices, like political or economic office holders. Such people combine greed with selfishness in the discharge of their duties. They usually divert public funds into their private coffers, inflate contract prices, etc. The following social problems could be traced back to greed cum selfishness eg. money laundering, embezzlement of public funds, fake goods production, expired food items and drugs importation, blackmail, poor quality products etc.
Robbery and other common evils
have some elements of greed

Illiteracy: Illiteracy seems to be a very fundamental problem in our society. Most of the social problems arise due to illiteracy. The lack of formal education deprives some people of the opportunity of gainful employment. When this is the case, a vice that can fetch in money becomes a credible alternative to idleness. Armed robbery, prostitution, smuggling, certificate forgery, financial crimes, and a host of others are all products of this instance.

Also, when a man lacks the right orientation or information on the way to live, his actions tend to deviate from the normal or the expected. Ethnic rivalry, examination malpractice, touting, begging, homo-sexuality and lesbianism are examples of evils arising due to this.

Unemployment: When unemployed, one becomes idle and frustrated. A saying goes that "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." More than a few happenings in society have proved this saying right. It is amazing what idleness causes. When coupled with frustration and, may be, hunger, the hell could be let loose in the mind of the person concerned. It is no more news that a reasonable percentage of the armed robbers and prostitutes operating in our society are unemployed graduates. These evils are just two out of a host of those unemployment leads to. Unemployment creates a vacuum that yearns to be filled. When filled through negative activities, society suffers.

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Laziness: Some evils attributed to unemployment in reality have laziness as their causal factor. Some people know what to do to survive. They have opportunities too to do them, but they decided to be lazy about instead. That summarizes the theory of laziness. Lazy people desire to achieve heights that hardworking people achieve without working hard. They, therefore, tend to be attracted to easier ways that are more or less evil.

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Bad governance: Government forms
policies for ruling a society. Government enacts laws guiding the people of a society. The government, or its agencies, enforced these laws. When there is laxity in the enforcement of laws that act against social problems, the vices encouraged to grow.

When government policies do not ensure the comfort of the people (financially and otherwise), the people tend to seek comfort or sustenance in their own way. In their struggle for survival, some people choose the wrong way.

Finally, when the government is corrupt, the possibility of the people under the government being corrupt is high. An African adage asks, "If the water up- stream is polluted, what could keep the water downstream from getting polluted?"

Challenges associated with contemporary social problems

Obviously, problems associated with social issues in Nigeria affect the individual, the family, and the nation. To the individual, problems like sexually transmitted diseases. The individual might be infected with HIV, syphilis, gonorrhoea, etc. through casual and indiscriminate sexual intercourse. Expensive drugs are used to cure some of these sexually transmitted diseases. Some, like HIV have defied all medications. It can only be managed with anti-retroviral drugs. The STD-infected individual must provide the drugs; and this could make him poor. He may even sell his property to procure drugs. This, too, could cause poverty. In the case of HIV, the infected person is also faced with the problem of stigmatization. He needs support from people to prolong his life. The people who are victims may not have enough money to take care of themselves and their families, due to the expensive nature of their drugs and the food required to build up their CD4A again. And the individual could be seen as promiscuous person; and, worse still, a prostitute. It reduces the respect people have for the individual.

The family lives in fear and because of that individual's life, and the bad name this brings to the family. The family takes care of the victim with its meagre resources. This will deprive it of many of its other requirements.

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Prostitution is a vehicle for the
spread of the disease to many people. As the spread of HIV increases, the workforce will decrease, and society becomes adversely affected.

Another issue is robbery. An armed robber is either imprisoned or executed either publicly or secretly in Nigeria; and the victims of the robbery may lose their lives or property or both.

Robbery gives a family a bad name and reduces the respect given to the family name and the members by the people of the society.

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The society is made to live in fear of insecurity, worry, and anxiety because nobody knows who will be the next victim. This brings about social, political, and economic instability in our society.

In fact, all these social issues affect the individual, the family, and the nation. We can not discuss all the listed social problems and unlisted ones in this text.

Solutions to social problems

"Where there is a will, there is a way", so says the popular English proverb. Having identified the social problems and their causes, it is now easier to find solutions or measures through which our society can get rid of those problems.

Firstly, the citizens of Nigeria and other countries should exhibit an understanding of these national issues and show or put up a spirit of patriotism in their activities. We should love our country and fellow citizens and make sure that the laws of the country are obeyed. We must shun ethnicisin or ethnic rivalry.

Parents should guide the children and direct them properly. Orientate them on the benefits of good behaviour, attitudes, and values, make them see reasons why they should imbibe good virtues of honesty, discipline, orderliness, tolerance, co-operation, etc. and why they should shun premarital sex, and that total abstinence is to be maintained until marriage; all these through counselling.

Education, both formal and informal, should be encouraged. National policies and goals on education should be pursued passionately. A greater percentage of the national budget should be dedicated to education.

Poverty: People should make use of the opportunities provided by enhancing their abilities. Even though the state of the economy is generally discouraging, everyone should buckle up in his or her occupation. People should generate new ideas for their businesses to grow. Wealthy people should invest their money in manufacturing in order to generate more wealth. In the process, they create jobs for others that are not affluent. In doing this, they will reduce the menace to themselves by the evil-minded poor people.

Greed: Culprits of social problems that emanate from greed should be dealt with severely, whether in law courts or among kindreds. This will discourage others from following their path.

Christians, moslems, and other religious faithfuls should emphasize more on this particular subject. The subject of greed is a moral one that can be handled more adequately in religious institutions. Fortunately, most of our people belong to one or the other of them. So, the more the preacher denounces greed before his congregation, the better for the society.

Values such as faithfulness, which is very important to the individual, the family, and the society, should be strengthened to reduce such vices as the spreading of HIV/AIDS, kidnapping, and many others.

The awareness campaign by government and non-governmental organisations should be intensified to reduce the rate at which people contract the deadly disease. People should also be saved from contracting the disease through the mass media and National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).

Government policies should be strengthened and strictly adhered to in terms of implementation. Anti-corruption agencies such as EFCC-Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, ICPC Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, the Police, Civil Defence Corps, Customs Service, Immigration Service, NDLEA i.e. National Drug Law Enforcement Agency etc. should be strengthened and re-energized in carrying out their official duties to fight against corruption, armed robbery, cultism, examination malpractice, prostitution, smuggling, Advance Fee Fraud (419), money laundering etc.

Also, the civil society participation in bringing a lasting solution to some of these social vices is very necessary,
who considering the activities of NGOS-Non- governmental organisations preach against corruption and human rights abuses, religious institutions eg churches and mosques who preach the need to be God-fearing and be of good attitude or habits to help mankind and our society, Human Rights organisations whose lawyers seek for public support in fighting issues like bribery and corruption etc.

Conclusion

Conclusively, a social problem is an ill-wind that blows no one any good. Therefore, the sooner it is eradicated, the better and safer the society becomes. It is there in every sphere of our society economic, political, health, sexual, etc. Likewise, the causes emanate from different angles and reasons. Wherever a social problem is found, its causes can be traced and addressed accordingly. It is expedient but not advisable to tackle the effects while neglecting the causes. Otherwise, even if some measure of eradication is achieved, the social
problem may not be prevented from re- surfacing in the long run.

The volume of evils traceable in a society should not discourage its people from resolving to expunge them. The important step that must never be over- ridden is to detect the root cause or causes of those evils. Normally, problems of any kind or form can be traced back to a particular general cause. Once this cause is taken care of, the problem is solved, and the society is set free.

Our present society has social problems that are sexual, political, economic, or juvenile in nature. Others are in the form of extortion and practices affecting the health of the people. When listed, they are like an avalanche. However, their causes have been traced to illiteracy, poverty, greed, unemployment, laziness, death of traditional values, bad government, etc.

The solution to the social problems is found when these causal factors are taken into consideration and properly dealt with.