The Politics of Religion and the Underdevelopment of Northern Nigeria (original) (raw)
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Religion and Challenges of Development in Nigeria in 21st Century
Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Religion, 2016
How can we be meaningfully talking about development where religion is used, misused and abused by political elitist class and people of wealth in Nigerian socio-political and economic realm? Of what values, importance and relevance is religion to economic development in a country still engrossed in the spate of senseless killings and maiming of innocent lives orchestrated by the Boko Haram insurgency? Or how thetical is religious intolerance and violence sponsored implicitly or explicitly by the clerics and pastors of Islamic and Christian religions against the African traditional religions to national development? All these questions are being addressed in this article by using sociological functional theory of religion to problematize how religion can be a source of or contributor to national development in Nigerian nation in 21 st century. By bringing Max Weber’s concept of Protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism in conversation with Clifford Geertz’s Interpretation of Culture...
Politics in Nigeria has been replete with a lot of anomalies and upheavals because the country leaders, past and present have dragged religion and ethnicity into politics in their quests for leadership in the country. It's a known fact that since Nigeria's independence, more than half of her years as a freed state has been spent under military junta. However, it is disheartening to additionally understand that for the reason that goes back of Nigeria to the birth of democratic rule in 1999, power has shifted from the southern region to the north and returned to the south. However the recent ploys of politicians by means of using religion into politics thereby inflicting all kinds of mayhem and violence to fulfill their egocentric pursuits leave much to be favored. It's been discovered that the recent Boko Haram insurgence in Nigeria that has claimed more than 20,000 lives of harmless citizens and the state's organizations are politically prompted, if that is true then, how can those religious intolerance perpetrated and transposed into politics cause a sustainable national development in Nigeria? This per followed the secondary method of information collection and moreover the literature assessment observed out that each Christianity and Islam have a stint in Nigeria politics and a such a lot of people have dragged religion into politics and also are the usage of religion as a device for attaining political powers by the usage of it to purpose violence and destruction of properties in Nigeria. The paper therefore recommends that religious leaders and politicians must be encouraged to preach non-violent coexistence and piety amongst their followers, whilst Nigerian authorities must do the whole thing within the country's powers to combat corruptions and offer employments for her teaming populace particularly the youths.
Religion in Nigerian Political Space: Implication for Sustainable National Development
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2014
Nigerian politics has been replete with lots of anomalies and upheavals because the country leaders past and present have dragged religion and ethnicity into politics in their quests for leadership in the country. It's a known fact that since independence, more than 2/3rd of the country's independence has been spent by military junta. It is heartwarming to also note that within these periods of military and civilian rule, most of the military heads of states are from the north and most of them are Muslims. But it is disheartening to also know that since the return of Nigeria to democratic rule in 1999, power has shifted from the southern bloc to the north and back to the south, but the recent activities of politician by employing religious violence into politics thereby causing all sorts of mayhem and violence to satisfy their selfish sinterests leave much to be desired. It has been discovered that the recent Boko Haram insurgence in the country that has claimed more than 20,000 lives of innocent citizens and the state agencies are politically motivated, if this is true then, how can these religious intolerance perpetrated and transposed into politics lead to a sustainable national development in Nigeria? This research adopted literature review and found out that both Christianity and Islam have a stint in Nigeria politics and so many people have dragged religion into politics and are also using religion as a tool for achieving political powers by using it to cause violence and destruction of properties in the country. The paper therefore recommends that religious leaders and
Deficit in Religious Practice in Nigeria: Implications for National Development
Religion is a fundamental agent, perhaps one of the most important factors that tend to create influence in the life of most Nigerians and Africans at large; yet the reconciliation between its essential principles and practice are too often unclear considering the behavioural output on the administration of public affairs vis-a–vis the level of corruption and immoral practices in its scene. Religion fanaticism has crept into all facets of life of the Nigerians and it cannot be relegated to the background. Even though the level of religiosity is high in Nigeria, poverty of leadership, corruption and immorality are more than other things, the greatest hydra–headed cogs in the wheel of personal, communal and national development. With qualitative data, this paper identified difference that exist between the principle and practice of religion which is the non-practice of the principles of religion as the reason for massive corruption, perpetual violence and the non-performance of national development agencies/programmes. Adopting the Marxian Theory of Religion, it recommended among others that, African culture and value which believes in immediate payback for wrong deeds, peaceful coexistence and communalism should be used as instrumentality for the good of the society and national development.
The Role of Religion and Politics in Nigeria for Sustainable National Development
Religion has taken a position of importance in Nigerian politics. The nation is the most populous country in West Africa and vest with religious diversities: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion. These religions are intertwined with political activities in the country. The political office holders are misusing religion as a tool to get to power while religious leaders are mishandling it to get personal gain from those who hold public office. Thus, religion has been mostly used negatively in Nigerian politics since independence. The study makes use of descriptive methodology to explore how religion impulse has affected political development and how it can bring sustainable political development if used positively.
The Myth of The Secular Nigerian State and National Development
MEJAST, 2019
Nigeria is a secular state in theory, religion supremacy functions has been the expression of political identity and facts obviously in conflicts over resources, land, and political offices. Increasing clashes between religious groups, predominantly Muslim and Christian have taken the nation from what used to be peaceful coexistence to violent disharmony. For the course of this paper, region in politics is as old as the history of the Nigerian state. What is new in the current exclusion is the extent to which religion dominates national life. The myth of the secular Nigerian state that purports to separate the institutions of religion from those of the government has failed to translate into reality. Indeed, there is evidence to show that Nigeria's troublesome religious conflict, especially during election and beyond will negatively affect national development. It is against this backdrop that the paper traces the historical and contemporary issues of religion plurality in the challenge of national development, with particular attention to the security dilemma for Nigeria in the 21st century, paying attention to the growing influence of the unchecked religion in politics, and its significance to modern politics and how this accounts for increasing manners of conflict in Nigerian states. This paper therefore makes some recommendations and concludes that there cannot be any meaningful national development without proper interreligious peace and harmony.
Religious Education as a Key for Restructuring for National Development in Nigeria
UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities
The question of “restructuring” for national development has taken the central stage in the political, social and economic life of the Nigeria nation. This question hangs on the understanding that Nigeria as a nation is bedevilled with ethnic divisions occasioned by distrust, suspicion and perceived marginalization. To this end, arguments abound that the entity called Nigeria is not yet a nation but a creation of the erstwhile colonial masters, to favour a particular ethnic nationality. Restructuring therefore is perceived as the only veritable solution to the problem of ethnic divisions in Nigeria, as this would enhance sustainable national development. This research submits that religious education is a fundamental key for restructuring for the enhancement of national development that is sustainable and enduring. It further proposes true Federalism as a system of government that would work pari-pasu with religion to achieve this goal of restructuring for sustainable development.
Religion as a Barrier to Nation-Building in Nigeria
PHILOSOPHY AND PRAXIS, 2020
Religious conflicts in Nigeria have affected our national economy negatively. Any interested observer of the Nigeria socio-political structure is all too easily aware of the multiplicity of voices and the diversity of cultures within the nation. In other words, Nigeria is one of the nations that have the highest ethnic nationalities to be found in one single country of the world. Religion which is one of the human engagements, has greatly influenced the life of many nations of the world, it has made recognizable impact on the spiritual, physical, social, moral and economic affairs of the modern world. Furthermore, colonial policies towards Christians and Muslims communities have imbedded racial and religious differences with far-reaching implications before and after independence. Religious violence among Christians and Muslims emerged in the 1980s in Nigeria. In other words, religious pluralism in Nigeria has been disrupted by religiously motivated conflicts which in turn have negative consequences on the process of Nation-Building. Hence, this paper posits that religious violence has impeded Nation-Building process in Nigeria.
Religion and Politics in Nigeria
2018
The relationship between politics and religion is intimate because there is always a point of convergence. More so, the relationship is complex because of the intricacies inherent in the politicization of religion. Focusing on Nigeria, today, there are three dominant religious groups in Nigeria, Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion. Islam and Christianity are not recognized here because of the trivialization of the position of traditional animism; that they take the centre stage in this work is deliberate because of the impact of both on the Nigerian government and politics. The researcher uses the method of critical analysis to review the politicization of these religions and the extent to which religious and political intolerance have had adverse effects on the peace, stability and national growth and development in Nigeria. The impact profoundly reinforces regional and ethnic differences and makes stability in all ramifications more difficult. The recognition of t...