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Justice In John Rawls Vis-À-vis Nigerian Democracy
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1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
History indicates that right
from the ancient times to the contemporary period, justice has been
regarded as one of the cardinal virtues which man as a political animal
makes quixotic effort to establish in the society he lives. Thus,
justice is the ultimate goal of political life, but experience has shown
us that it is injustice that dominates political debate. The reason is
that it is easier to identify and deplore injustice than define
precisely what is lacking in an unjust political society or what an
ideally just political society might be like. This however, is the kind
of predicament John Rawls sees in modern period, where moral thought
and the means of assessing moral behaviour are dominated by
utilitarianism. Those who set out, according to him to criticize it
often did so, on much narrower front. They pointed out the obscurities
of the principle of utility and noted apparent incongruities between
many of its implications and our moral sentiments. But they failed to
construct a workable and systematic moral conception of justice to
oppose it. In reacting to this, Rawls had to develop the concept of
justice in which he wanted to work out certain principles that will
provide a reasonably systematic alternative to utilitarian conception of
justice. The principles he developed dwell strongly on the constant
way of equal distribution of wealth and division of benefits and burdens
resulting from social cooperation in well-ordered society. Similarly,
in Nigerian democratic government today, I think it could be an
obligation if not indispensable task to seek social justice, where the
political elites in the country have completely lost the sense of
justice in piloting public affairs and engaged constantly in violation
of human rights and injustice.
And to do that however, the Rawlsian
concept of social justice should be our stepping stone through which we
shall endeavor to restore justice economically, socially and politically
in Nigeria.
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