Mobilizing Social Capital for Food Security and Poverty Reduction to Overcome Religious and Ethnic Hostility: A Preliminary Community Based Approach‪.‬

Need: The Existential Problem Two existential changes noticeable in contemporary Nigerian societal behavior provided the impetus for this intervention in poverty reduction and food security through grant writing. The first noticeable change is the move from ethical considerations of good character built on the twin values of "honor" and "shame" to a cool calculation from the on-set of economic interaction that the "end justifies the means." Good character was preferred to wealth accumulated through fraudulence in the old Nigeria before the civil war that ranged from 1967 to 1970. The second noticeable change was that communities that used to be tolerant and accepting of people of other ethnicities and religions have become outwardly intolerant and prone to violence as the economic hardship and endemic poverty bites harder in this otherwise wealthy country. Preliminary ethnographic studies confirm that doing business, even within family circles for the benefit of family members, hitherto the most sacred forum of ethical support and accountability (Ekeh: 1975) has now become problematic. A genre of internet-based schemes christened "Nigerian Fraudulent schemes" has become so widespread in America that the name "Nigeria" is slowly becoming synonymous with fraudulent practices in the United States.