AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION, FAMILY AND SEXUAL IMMORALITY AMONG ESAN PEOPLE OF EDO STATE, NIGERIA: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION
Sexual immorality is prevalent among adults and youths in Nigeria today. Young girls now put on suggestive or seductive dresses and appear half dressed, just to be attractive to their male counterparts. Sex is promoted through mass and social media. Romance scenes are now more interesting in many television programs. A good example is the beach parties of the last Big Brother House program, tagged Level Up. Moreover, sexual immorality could lead to unwanted pregnancy and the attempt to cover it up could snowball into abortion. Many promising young girls have died through complications from abortion, particularly when it is handled by a cheap quack. Some have passed on to the great beyond after taking strong concoction in a desperate move to flush unwanted pregnancies. Those who managed to succeed could damage their wombs and live a life of perpetual regret later. Others who swallowed their pride and keep the pregnancy despite all odds experienced the unthinkable. They are often treated as social misfits, rejects and disgrace to themselves and their families. In most cases the education of the girl is usually truncated. Some even give birth to bastards a situation that pricks their conscience for the rest of their adult life. These ugly development expose the helplessness of the family and the society. Hence, the paper interrogates factors that are responsible for sexual immorality, using Emily Durkheim’s functional theory for its framework. It examines the effects revealed on the individual, family and society. The paper recommends self discipline and educational enlightenment as ways to mitigate this social scourge. The scope of the work is Ayobo in Alimosho Local Government Area in Lagos state. Historical analytical method is deployed for data collection. Findings revealed that the lack of discipline in the home front is the cause of indiscipline among youths in the entire society.
Keywords: african, critical, edo, esan, examination, family, immorality, nigeria, people, religion, sexual, state, traditional