Nigerian religions
Jibrin Ibrahim
Nine Thesis on Nigerian Religions
Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy, Daily Trust, 4th October, 2019
1) High Level of Religiosity
Nigeria has one of the highest levels of religiosity in the contemporary world. This means that the religious arena is characterised by high levels of activism including the multiplication of religious authorities, texts, discourses and identities. The key marker of high religiosity is the visible growth in the intensity of belief and in the expansion of time, resources and efforts devoted to religious activities and practice. In other words, Nigeria is consumed by an extraordinary expenditure of energy in religious activism.
2) High Level of Irreligiosity
The paradox is that notwithstanding thesis one, Nigerians are among the least religious people in the contemporary world. While claiming to be Christians and Muslims, Nigerians show very minimal adherence to the beliefs and core values of the two religions such as love, compassion, honesty, moral uprightness and peace. The consequence is a high level of theft of public and private property by apparently “religious” people. There is massive immorality, debauchery, sex outside wedlock, homosexuality and other activities that genuine Christians and Muslims who believe in the core values of their religions avoid. There is too little religion in the lives of Nigerians and social life is characterised by drug and alcohol abuse, rape and other forms of anti-religious behaviour.
3) Open Access to Religious Space
The Nigerian religious space is open to a wide range of actors who have multiple motivations and objectives. Spirituality is used, or rather abused to achieve banal and materialistic objectives such as becoming wealthy, winning elections or getting more sexual partners.
4) Religion as the Main Source for Material Accumulation
The consequence of open access is that Nigeria’s religious arena has become the most profitable sector for young, articulate upwardly mobile Nigerians who want to become rich and live a life of opulence. Religion has replaced commerce, banking, industry and agriculture as the most efficacious route to primitive accumulation of capital.
5) Massive Growth of Popular Religion
Popular religious movements have made massive inroads into religious space. About 30-35% of Christians have left orthodox churches for Pentecostal ones and about the same proportion have left Sufi Islam for Salafi Islam. Both Pentecostalism and Salafism emphasise the personal rather than the collective as the basis for salvation so they divide families and communities while promoting individualism as the most important behavioural trait to develop. This is an unprecedented level of religious change rarely encountered by any society.
6) Crisis of Religious Education
The ongoing religious change has disrupted the normal process of religious education within the family and community which is traditionally conducted by parents and clergy with long tradition in the society. Nigeria’s youth are therefore available to be influenced by new religious actors bring in new values.
7) Instrumentalization of Religious Pluralism and Political Conflict
Muslim and Christian actors in Nigeria are engaged in a constant struggle to control “theological space”. The development of both has depended on their capacities to convert believers in traditional religions. In the 1931 census, 5O% of the population were registered as "pagans" with the percentage declining to 34% in 1952 and 18.2% in 1963; leaving Islam with 47% and Christianity with 34% of the population. Since then, there have been no census data on religious affiliation but virtually all Nigerians define themselves as either Muslims or Christians. Instrumentalization of religion takes the form of ecumenical battles to promote Christian or Muslim interests thereby exacerbating conflict in society. Meanwhile, within each religious grouping the cold war for dominance between sects, tendencies and denominations is growing.
8) State Abdication of Social Provisioning
The Nigerian State has moved away from the position it occupied at the period of independence as an organ with primary responsibility for producing the fruits of independence in the form of infrastructure, education, health, potable water and so on. Not only has it abdicated its responsibility for social provisioning, the state has also largely withdrawn its commitment to promoting equitable social and economic development in the country. Given that nature abhors a vacuum, religious organisations were quick to seize the opportunity of occupying the terrain and using their nexus for social provisioning as an instrument for the control of social and theological space. This accounts for much of the success in their growth and dynamism.
9) As Values Collapse, Violence Grows
The most direct sign of the strength of religious actors is the recent call by the Chief of Army Staff for the engagement of the armed forces in spiritual warfare. Violence has become the reward of growing religiosity characterised by irreligiosity in terms of values and morality. Nigeria has never seen as much violence as we see today. The military is engaged in active operations in most States of the country. Militancy in the Niger Delta did not end. The Boko Haram insurgency has endured for a decade. Farmer-Herder conflicts have emerged as the most dangerous violent conflict facing the country. Rural banditry has made insecurity the reality for every Nigerian.
In spite of Nigeria’s new religions, we must strive to SURVIVE
i. We Must Accept Our Differences
Nigeria is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society and we must work hard to protect our reality. Religious insecurity is insidious and dangerous because it makes people feel threatened not just in their present lives but also in the hereafter so religious activity by all groups must be respected and protected.
II. We Must Separate the Religious from the Profane
New laws and systems have to be developed to separate the religious arena from business and commerce. Those who make money from religious must register their activities as businesses and pay tax. There should be requisite qualifications for those who want to continue along the religious line.
iii. Rebuilding State Capacity and Responsibility
Given that nature abhors a vacuum, religious organisations were quick to seize the opportunity of occupying the terrain after the State abdicated its responsibility for social provisioning. The role of the state in addressing social and economic development cannot be abdicated and left to religious actors without serious social consequences.
iv. Providing Education and Employment for the Youth
The youth have been the major actors in religious activism and in the various conflicts generated by various forms of manipulation of religious sentiments. They have energy and they have time due to the high rate of unemployment and non-attendance or dropping out from school. There is no possibility of effectively addressing the problems of religious pluralism and democratic governance without a serious youth policy that puts the nation’s youth in schools and in jobs.
v. Improving the Administration of Justice
Too many Nigerians have lost confidence in the system of the administration of justice. As long as people believe that the police cannot protect them and their property and the courts cannot guarantee justice, then their belief in the state and its agencies reduce and they search for alternative methods of protecting themselves and seeking redress. The state must therefore significantly improve its competence in the performance of basic functions.
vi. Improving Religious Education
While the intensity of the performance of religious rituals has increased significantly over the past few years, the level of ignorance people have of the basic tenets of their own religion and the religions of others remains high. The promotion of religious education aimed at eliminating religious bigotry rooted in ignorance is imperative. The younger generation should be educated in such a way that they can question religious interpretations that encourage hate speech and action towards others.
vii. Civic Education
Religious education must however be accompanied by civic education. Nigerians have to learn or relearn the duties and responsibilities of citizens and the necessity of respect for others, tolerance and the importance of the promotion of human rights and the rule of law.
viii. Promoting Equity
Nigeria has one of the highest levels of inequality in the world. The search for equity is basic to the Nigerian problem. Those in power have too often succumbed to the temptation of preferential treatment for themselves and the groups they belong to. This tendency has been creating anxiety and ad conspiracy theories. There are too many fears about “hidden agendas” by the powerful people in society who have, or appear to have the intention of restricting or denying the rights of others.
ix. Religious Freedom
The most important objective of the religious policy of the state is to guarantee religious freedom. Section 38 (1) in Chapter four of the Constitution:
“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private), to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”
The problem that usually arises is that this constitutionally entrenched right is often breached in practice. It is therefore imperative the state makes constant efforts to protect this right.
x. Proselytization Policy
The Constitution guarantees the right to proselytization. We note however that when such rights are not pursued cautiously, tensions emerge. Inflammatory and provocative speeches and hate speech need to be prevented if we are to promote religious harmony. Nigerians need to consciously promote civility towards each other.
xi. Educational Policy
Nigeria has had a policy of compulsory education for all since 1976 but the policy has not been implemented seriously especially in Northern Nigeria. Educate all our children.
Cornelius Hamelberg
The importance of this short paper cannot be overemphasized, especially given the role of religion in the identity politics that determines political consciousness in Nigeria; all the talk about the North- South axis, the Muslim North and the partly Christian South-West, the mostly Christian South-East, the wholly Christian deep South and the mixed multitudes in the so-called Middle Belt, up for grabs by the predatory proselytizing Christian missionaries, the earthly get-rich pastors and of course the dear Muslim Brethren doing their daily dawah, spreading the faith of al Islam by the word, not by the sword...
Agreed : Islam is against idolatry and corruption and we are to assume that Christianity is also against corruption and all the practices that define that crime. But, only the people who live in Nigeria and practice those two religions can answer this question: Do the Muslim and Christian preachers preach against corruption, from their minbar and pulpit? If so, if they preach that corruption leads to the everlasting fires of hell why doesn’t corruption diminish?
A few other questions that arise (chronologically) from reading “ Nine Thesis on Nigerian Religions”
1. Nigeria, just like every other African country being extremely homophobic, to say that there is MASSIVE homosexuality, must be an exaggeration, or is homosexuality widespread in Nigeria?
2. Re - “About 30-35% of Christians have left orthodox churches for Pentecostal ones” To begin with there are not so many Orthodox Christians in Nigeria, if by “orthodox churches” the author means “orthodox churches” as normally defined...
3.Re - “ and about the same proportion have left Sufi Islam for Salafi Islam.”
This is surprising! One would have thought that the opposite is on the rise, everywhere, i.e. normally, from “ Salafi Islam” to Sufism and Sufi orders which are vehemently opposed by Salafism, although many Sufi orders follow Islamic Sharia. The danger they sense is that some orders venerate their Pir in the same way that Christians worship Jesus -and from a strictly Islamic point of view, that is an unforgivable sin: shirk : idolatry. ( Islam is strictly monotheistic )
It should be worthwhile getting to understand the symbiotic relationship between Sharia and Sufism as practised in Senegal, Sudan and Nigeria and it should also be worthwhile in understanding the incomprehensible, why a Sufi would desert Sufism for Salafism which is nowadays is so closely associated with terror groups such as ISIS, al Qaeda, and maybe by extension, Boko Haram.
There’s Ali Ibn Talib and his importance in nearly all the Sufi orders and, understandably / consequently, the mystical component is already so strong in Shia Islam that for many Shia Muslims, Sufism would be extraneous - even though there are a few orthodox Shia Sufi Sects as we can understand by reading this compendium of instructions)
There are of course many other questions arising. Strangely enough, Brother Jibrin does not mention the Jews of Nigeria . Is that omission not tantamount to discrimination? On the other hand, he does not mention the adherents of traditional indigenous Nigerian/ African religions either.
Blessed are the countries that do not have a religion problem
On the lighter side, Toby the devil
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Shortly,
how do we resolve this apparently glaring paradox that stabs one in the eye, that on the one hand “Nigeria has one of the highest levels of religiosity in the contemporary world”, whilst at the same time (according to Professor Jibrin Ibrahim) “Nigerians are among the least religious people in the contemporary world” or at least on the contemporary African continent?
Shmile? Contest? Deny?
By definition, “ A Christian is a person who is baptised and lives according to the teaching of Christ”
In that case, how to account for Professor Ibrahim’s sorry assessment which is crying out for the moral reform of Naija society, if it’s true that
“While claiming to be Christians and Muslims, Nigerians show very minimal adherence to the beliefs and core values of the two religions such as love, compassion, honesty, moral uprightness and peace. The consequence is a high level of theft of public and private property by apparently “religious” people. There is massive immorality, debauchery, sex outside wedlock, homosexuality and other activities that genuine Christians and Muslims who believe in the core values of their religions avoid. There is too little religion in the lives of Nigerians and social life is characterised by drug and alcohol abuse, rape and other forms of anti-religious behaviour.”
My hunch is that that kind of deliberate, helpless behaviour in the Christian sector must be based on the erroneous idea that they are or have been “saved” because Jesus has already died for their sins.
In the meanwhile, down here on earth before ascending up there to Heaven or down below to the everlasting bonfire, the “high level of theft of public and private property by apparently “religious” people” must surely be accountable to Nigeria’s secular law – to crime and punishment - Justice - the rule of law, in the country.
In the first place, if the Professor is not merely exaggerating or bragging about the religiosity of his people, we are to suppose that the fall from their mountain peak of religiosity / “one of highest levels of religiosity in the contemporary world” to the bottomless pit of those who are “among the least religious people in the contemporary world” all depends on how the learned Professor chooses to define religiosity, since we take it as fore-granted that there are Professors, including professors of religion who maybe merely profess, not to mention the paedophile priests who preach, teach religion, belief, beliefs, grace, faith, good deeds.
It was disconcerting to read headlines earlier this year about His Holiness the Pope lamenting the priests’ abuse of nuns including sexual slavery… About which we may hear the pious moan, “If that be the quality of the priests, then God save the congregation” whilst others quote John8:7 ; but are just a few bad apples among the billion or so Roman Catholics enough evidence that the Roman Catholic Church – “the body of Christ” is “one of the least religious” organisation in the contemporary world? As far as the Christian Brethren and Sistren are concerned, isn’t it the sinners that are in need of salvation?
With regard to fornication and adultery, perhaps Christian dogma has set the bar too high, since merely looking at a woman, with some imagination is tantamount to fornication and adultery, maybe, even rape...
Re- “(5) Massive Growth of Popular Religion “ and “x. Proselytization Policy”
Statistics are probably not readily available about the number of Christians and Disbelievers who have converted or according to the correct Islamic vocabulary, who have “ reverted” to al-Islam, or for that matter the insignificant number who like one Mark A. Gabriel, said to be “critical of “Salafi Islam”...