COUNSELLING FOR VALUE RE-ORIENTATION IN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study investigated counselling for value re-orientation in political leadership in Rivers State. The study was guided by a set of three carefully developed research questions, which served as the foundation for the subsequent formulation of three carefully constructed hypotheses. The study utilised a descriptive survey approach in order to examine a current phenomenon. The population of the study included party members in the two major political parties in Rivers State (PDP and APC) as well as all registered counsellors in the State while convenience sampling technique was used to select 36 respondents (24 party members and 12 counsellors) as sampled respondents for the study. The instrument that was adopted for data collection was a 15 item questionnaire tagged “Counselling Political Leaders for Value Re-Orientation Questionnaire” (CPLVROQ) which was face and content validated by three Counsellors at the Department of Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, University of Port Harcourt. The instrument's reliability was assessed using Cronbach alpha statistics, yielding an average value of 0.80. The research issues were addressed by calculating the mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were evaluated using a ttest with a significance level of 0.05. The findings of the study indicated that illiteracy and materialisms were among the drivers of unethical values among politicians. It was shown that lack of productivity and insecurity are among the effects of these unethical values. Counselling on ethnic integration and peaceful co-existence were identified as necessary for value reorientation among political leaders. The study recommended that the government of Rivers State takes proactive measures to enhance the efficacy of anti-corruption measures and accountability mechanisms within the political institutions of the state for political leaders as a way out for national development.