RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY, NIGERIA AND NATIONAL UNDER-DEVELOPMENT
No true story teller can tell the tale of freedom and enlightenment in Africa without referencing the roles played by religion. In Nigeria for instance, the need to penetrate and communicate well with the indigenes by the foreign missionaries engendered establishment and proliferation of schools especially in the southern part of the country. Though the people of the north had a late encounter with western education, they were ahead in Arabic education through Muslim traders from the north Africa who traded in their lands. The crux of this is not far-fetched; formal education being an eye-opener was achieved and enabled the people to access other world through the lens of literacy and their rapports with the missionaries. This is not to deny the Nigerians of having their traditional religion(s) before the advent of foreign ones. However, the grip of colonialism, massive propaganda, misinterpretations of African cultures and religions among other factors humbled it to silence.
It should be a striking surprise that religion which was a bastion of social illumination in Nigeria and Africa is now a thick rope of division, violence, discrimination, under-development and all sorts of sinister demonstrations. But, a recourse to history might make the anomalies being perpetrated under the mask of religion less disappointing. In the western European history, medieval era is regarded as the dark age. This was a period when reality of human existence and his environment could only be interpreted through spectacles of religion. This era was characterized by dogmatism, staticism and developmental wretchedness. It remains a continuous credence to the world that dogma is inimical to creativity, discovery and mental freedom which are the major ingredients of all round development in every human society. Hence, it is not a historical accident that renaissance came after medievalism and its attendant misdemeanors had to be disdainfully jettisoned.
In year 2015, the Pew Research Center found out in their researches whose nationalities of the world consider religion most important. Nigeria was on number 9th among the top fourty countries with 88% of her population being adjudged as deeply religious. The other eight countries that came before Nigeria were 1. Ethiopia 98%, 2. Senegal 97%, 3. Indonesia 95%, 4. Uganda 95%, 5. Pakistan 93%, 6. Burkinafaso 92%, 7. Tanzania 90%, and Ghana 90%. Worthy of special attention in these charts is the fact that the top most religious nations are all developing nations with myriads of socio-political imbroglios emanating from issues like ethnicity, leadership crises, religious fanaticism et al. These are nations whose blessings have been dwarfed by perennial socio-economic mumbo-jumbos.
It is a sad irony that religion has become a mockery of its ideals in Nigeria. A nation whose 88% human constituents are deemed religious should have their land colored with lofty fruits of their religious avowals. Can we then say that there is a problem with religions being practised by Nigerians or Nigerians are religiously immature or paedomorphic? Better still, is it the case that Nigerians are intentionally making mockery of religion? My undisguised skepticism and inquisitiveness arose from extant and transparent curses that have greeted this blessed country in the name of religion.
The unequivocal messages of the two dominant religions in Nigeria (Islam and Christianity) include peace, love, justice, truth etc. Sadly, these qualities are mere contents in the holy book seeking tirelessly avenues for manifestation in Nigeria. Apart from the civil war of 1967-1969 that gulped millions of life, religion has featured the most gory crises in the nation. One then wonders; where is the peace and love that religion preaches?
Worst of it is the unholy division and suspicion permeating the land in the name of religion. This satanism which has attenuated the idea of good governance and respect for competence and quality. For instance, in Nigeria today whether in an organization or in politics, religious prejudice has become a strong factor determining who becomes what. Merit is easily abandoned for religious loyalty to hold sway. This does not have a meagre effect on our development as a people. It is calamitous in gigantic measures as it creates mere opportunists where capable and dedicated hands are needed. Also, mischief makers also hide behind this to perpetrate evil of diverse kinds. There is no specie of evil that has not been wrecked in the garb of religion. Talk of massacre, ritual killings, human trafficking, money laundering, sexual harassment, rape, terrorism and more. Incidentally, there is still the culture of selective justice whereby evil perpetrated by popular religious arrowheads are treated as anointed evil thereby shielding the perpetrators from the sledge hammer of the law.
How then can this country witness development? This is a serious question. The future is blurry. Do not crucify me if I sound pessimistic. There is no nation of the world whose development hinges on miracle or belief in special helps raining from the sky. Among the world economic giants, it is only U.S that has up to 50% of her citizens as religious. This is a country with strong institutions and regards for rule of law as against Nigeria and many economic backward African countries who thrive in administrative and institutional impunities. The likes of UK, Germany, Russia, China have less than 25% religious subscribers. For Nigeria to grow and develop we as a people must divest ourselves from the shackles of mental laziness we have put ourselves into in the name of worshipping God. The population of religious places in Nigeria today outnumbers the industries and schools. A very large percentage of our graduates who were trained to be scientists have all become clerics organizing crusades and vigils when they are meant to be on fields of research.
It is no longer odd to us again to see churches and mosques holding programs at 10am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays ..to Friday populated by our civil servants, traders, students and youths. It is no surprise that we cannot make pencil in our country. Lest I forget, we also import toothpicks. If only we as a people can do some critical evaluations, we would realize that majority of the prayer points we take to God are prayers answered by governments in saner climes. Food, shelters, security, education, employments are all ridiculous demands meant to be directed to the government. Consequently, we produce leaders who have no empathy to the plights of their obsequious citizens. The questioning minds of the youths are day by day being crucified on the altar of sheepish discipleship and we have in our schools syllabuses that indoctrinate the children with religious education rather than broadening their minds with objective reasoning and the history of our sway and swoon as a nation.
A national hypocrisy it is to pretend as if all is well in the country as we tend to behave by hoping for better days without any blueprint. We should bury our heads in shame if we are religious as a people and our society is not enviable or exemplary to the Godless nations. It is high time we realized that our dogmatic life is dissuading us from seeing the naked reality. Worship and prayers will not build us aircrafts. It has never happened anywhere in the world. Economy does not advance through religious devotion, technological revolution is not as a result of occupying every nook and cranny of the country with prayer centers. It is a product of tireless researches, clarity of purpose, dedication and hard work. We have so many to learn from the developed countries. Their success and development can be empirically interpreted and explained. Their scientists are not waiting for revelations on mountains when they are meant to be in their laboratories. Also, their governments do not hide under the façade of religion to misrule their people. Nigeria must learn how to separate the art of governance from art of worship thereby encouraging laws, institutions and programs that can push the country forward without favor to any religious or ethnic creed.
I am @sola4boy