Opinion: Religion and corruption in Nigeria-an interplay

by Olawale Rotimi Opeyemi

 

“According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, many of the most corrupt countries in the world also rank high in terms of religiosity.”

“In as much as the marriage between politicians and religious leaders remains intact, religion will continue to pose major challenge to the fight against corruption in Nigeria.”

Religion is a fundamental part of life for Nigerians; it is difficult to persuasively say what religion means, however, that religion influences behaviour and decision of people is common to all defining characteristics of religion. In Nigeria, religious beliefs are taken very seriously, and they affect almost all areas of life of Nigerians. The influence of religion on Nigerians can be seen in dressing, social greetings, feeding habit, living pattern, and political affiliations among others. Generally, it affects the social behaviour and misbehaviour of the people. One of this is corruption which is important due to its effect on growth, inflation, investment and innovation and is rejected by all religions (Shadabi, 2013).

Religion as a concept aims at building moral standard in people through an idea of a supreme being who is more powerful than humans. In this light, religion in itself does not support immoral conducts such as stealing, killing, cheating to mention a few. Religion performs six interrelated functions, namely, restraining or criticising the conduct of government, encouraging political participation, promoting democratic values and norm, articulating and aggregating distinctive societal interests, generating cross-cutting identities and providing avenues for the development of leadership skills (Rotimi, Mala & Aiyegboyin, 1999). While some believe religion play fundamental roles in nation building and the fight against corruption, some are of the view that religion has caused more damage and complicated the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

Nigerians take their religion seriously (Onaiyekan, 2012). Frankly, it is impossible to disconnect religion from Nigerians. In a broader view, religious identity plays more important role than national identity in Nigeria; a Nigerian will find it easy to favour a non-Nigerian whom they practice same religion than a fellow Nigeria. The impact of religion cannot be overemphasized in Nigeria, and its place is becoming stronger in Nigeria.

Several researches about corruption have fingered religion as one of the causes of corruption. The factors causing corruption have been divided into two, namely: economic and non-economic causes.  Religion has been highlighted as one of the non-economic factors causing corruption. There are indications that support this position, one of which is the politicization of religion, in Nigeria to be specific.  Nigeria is by far the largest country in the world with religious identities evenly divided between Muslims (90 million) and Christians (90 million) (USIP, 2015), both religion are engaged in a prolonged rivalry for political and economic supremacy, this is evident in the formation of various religio-political groups that advocate and enforce the demands of each religious group in Nigeria.

For example, Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) with 304 general assembly members, Supreme Islamic Council of Nigeria e.t.c. Due to millions of followers controlled by these groups, they hold strong influence in determining electoral, political, economic or policy success in Nigeria. This explains why political leaders patronize religious groups during election to persuade their followers. Nigerians believe religious leaders should rebuke corrupt politicians and preach the hard message of transparency and honesty to them.

After the 2015 elections, many religious groups and individuals were alleged in corruption cases, receiving election bribes to campaign for a particular candidate. In the $2.1billion arms probe, as published in Premium Times (Nigerian online news platform), Bafarawa confessed that he received N4.6bn from Col. Dasuki for “spiritual purposes”. This implies that the fund was dedicated for the engagement of religious/spiritual leaders in praying for their candidate to victory. In same arms probe, the president of Christian Association of Nigeria, Ayo Oritsejafor was alleged to have received $35million. In a similar publication in The Leadership newspaper, Pastor Dikwa who is the executive director of Voice of Northern Christians alleged that Christian Association of Nigeria received a sum of N7bn from former president Jonathan to campaign against the opposition party. He stated that the money was handed over to the leadership of CAN on 26th of January, 2016. More also, 13 Islamic clerics in Kaduna state were alleged to have received money to campaign for President Jonathan during the last election.

According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, many of the most corrupt countries in the world also rank high in terms of religiosity. Nigeria has always rank high on global corruption index, yet the nation is highly religious nation. Since religion teaches morals and does not embrace social misbehaviour, one will assume that a religious nation should be a corruption free nation. Ideally, religious training and active participation should be highly predictive of conformity to social but the case is different in religious nations like Nigeria.

There is increasing attention given to the nexus between religion and corruption, and this is because religion preaches fairness and honesty. However, the fact that many corrupt leaders and practices hide under the shadow of religious leaders has weakened religion’s ability to support the fight against corruption. Now that influential religious leaders in Nigeria are named in multibillion naira scandals, it is difficult for such religious leaders to preach against corrupt practices. In addition, the era of materialism in religion has intensified the urge for money, as spiritual leaders and their members engage in illicit deals to amass wealth.

In as much as the marriage between politicians and religious leaders remains intact, religion will continue to pose major challenge to the fight against corruption in Nigeria. There must be a divorce between both parties in order to support the fight against corruption in Nigeria. The nexus between religion and corruption remains a very crucial topic of discussion. Even though religion preaches honesty and sincerity, the involvement of influential religious leaders in corruption cases and their inability to preach against corruption continue to weaken religion’s ability to fight corruption in Nigeria.

From facts unveiled in this article, we have been able to see that religious identity is more important to a Nigerian than his/her national identity. The influence of religion in the lives of the followers should serve as a major yardstick for right living among spiritual leaders, religion in itself does not encourage corruption, and religious leaders must strike a balance to position religion as a sharp instrument in fighting corruption.


Olawale Rotimi Opeyemi is a writer and Journalist who writes from Abuja.

 

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