Why Are Nigerians So Obsessed
With Religion?
I have often wondered if Karl Marx
had a vision of present day Nigeria
when he postulated that religion is
the opium of the masses
Seriously,Nigeria is probably the
most religious nation on earth.
Every nook and cranny is dotted
with spires,domes and turrets.
Churches and Mosques undulate to
calls to prayer and evangelical
music.A pilgrimage to Mecca or
Jerusalem is a badge of religious
devotion sought after with great
zeal alongside the much needed
appellations like
Bishop,Pastor,Alhaji,Deacon etc.
Today in Nigeria being born again
is now socially acceptable and even
politically correct in certain
quarters.as a matter of fact,there
are more churches and mosques
in Nigeria today than industries
and schools put together (disprove
me if you dare)
One would expect with this spread
of churches,mosques and prayer
houses that there should be an
accompanying growth in morals in
the society but alas this is not the
case.The religious boom has been
paralleled by a growth of a far less
desirable kind.A decline in moral
values creating an intriguing
spectacle of more religion and less
morality.Take Nigeria's abysmal
rating on the global corruption
index or the uncontrollable levels
of insecurity for instance and
paradoxically compare it with its
rating as the most religious nation
on earth.There is a profound
dissonance between the spread of
religion and the moral decline that
has promoted corruption from a
malaise confined to the epochal
heights of governance to a full
blown social plague.For all the
religious fervour in the nation,faith
has little or no social expression
But why is this important at all?
Like Nairalanders are wont to ask.
In truth,religion has become
Nigeria's greatest problem.A
religious movement can develop a
narcissistic obsession with its own
mythology.Its adherents can
become blinded by a creed of
materialistic self involvement to the
problems of a society which they
are meant to heal.Religion as we
have come to know it today,for the
most part,has become an
impediment to culture change.Its
ways and its means have become
obsolete.
At the risk of sounding off,let me
pause here but not before I state
that the Nigerian religious
establishment is ripe for a
reformation as is the society as a
whole. The much touted recovery
envisaged in the political and
economic spheres cannot be
attained without a recovery of
values.A reform of existing
religious strains could be the much
needed springboard for a mass
mobilisation of civil society to
protest the many ills plaguing our
society