Social Welfare and Family Support: The Nigerian Experience

The African family has been the basic structure that performed the functions of a social system even before contact with European and other white cultures. These included not only the organization of behavior and economy, the preservation of culture, the realization of political goals, the control and integration of the members but also the provision services classified today as social welfare. However, sweeping changes have been taking place in the African family and these have seriously affected its function as a social system. The roles of men and women, religion, education, in short, the African culture itself has been experiencing a lot of changes. These changes have weakened the family as a social system. This has also affected the role of the family as a social welfare system. That role is also changing. Nevertheless, it is strongly suggested that the African family is still capable of assuming that role. It should be encouraged and aided to continue to do so. The importance of community development as a more effective and more relevant model of social welfare in Nigeria is emphasized. Introduction The basic structure of African life is the family. Even before the arrival of the white man in Africa, the social structures possessed a system of organizing behavior and economy, a cultural system for the preservation of its uniqueness and independence, a system of polity for the realization of the societal political goals, and a system of control and integration. These are characteristics which any viable social system should possess (Parsons 1971). Every societal function was, therefore, assumed and performed through that network. Even the function of what is known today as social welfare and social services was expercised by the family network. With the coming of the Europeans and the white man's culture in contact with the African systems, changes have swept through the systems. The purpose of this paper is to examine those changes and their effect on what is the present African family with a look at its function in relation to the new social welfare system. I. The Family Membership in a family includes not only the natural parents and their children but also uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, etc., all related to one person known as the ancestor. The family can include the collateral descendants of the same ancestor up to the fourth generation. The family name of almost every African is that of the ancestor. Along with this, there is a customary law of collaboration and self help among the members of the family. The organization and execution of tasks are supervised by the patriarch, the chief who also assumes custody of the material and spiritual goods of the family. He has family counsellors who assist him in matters of settling problems between members of the family or decisions affecting the welfare of the family. African life is a type of unlimited co-responsibility. Parents devote a great part of their lives to the care and nurturance of the young ones. They are never in doubt as to their inescapable obligations to feed, clothe, shelter, educate, and protect the lives, rights, and freedom of their offspring. More often than not, they are ready to discharge these obligations at the expense of their own personal comfort or lives. The offspring too are never in doubt as to their natural obligation to care for their parents in their old age or infirmity. The well-being of each member of the family is the concern of all and vice versa, and the wealth of the family is shared among its members with manifest fairness and equity. The needs of the young, the aged, the sick, and the disabled and the relative contributions of the ablebodied constitute important factors in the distribution of the family wealth (Awolowo, 1968). Relatives are also available to help anyone in need. If there is distress, peoplemove in to live with their kinsmen in another area (Rodney, 1974). Thus, the individual at every stage of his life has a series of duties and obligations to others as well as a set of rights. This is to say that kinship implies a combination of security and obligations. The family is the group the African can depend totally on and to which Africans owe allegiance, a group which transcends the individual and gives him/her position in society and in history. It gives the individual importance and status as well as physical necessities or even wealth. All families and clans who share the same ancestor make up an ethnic group which has its norms, values, customs, and determined behavior patterns. Whether the ethnic group is directed by a king or a chief is not important. What matters is the family ideal and its sanctity. The family has for its function the creation and maintenance of order as well as social justice. It is considered as a religious unit, a sacred reality because everyone of its members is a descendant of the same ancestor. Thus, the functions of adaptation, political organization, and community commitment as well as pattern maintenance are demonstrated in the family. To fully understand the life and solidarity of the family as social structure, it is necessary to consider the following elements that are factors in the community life. A. The Ancestor Cult This is the basis for solidarity and of submission to authority. The dead are considered the source of life. They are also the origin of laws and customs and continue to protect their descendants. That is why they are consulted, why prayers and offerings are made to them. They are believed to provide personal order and stability to the members of the ethnic group. They are believed to be near to God. By their force they are able to influence, reinforce, or sometimes punish the living. They, therefore, are seen to remain very intimately interested in every person that springs up in their line of family tree and their participation is very intensely felt. As collaborators with God, they are principal intermediaries in His work of