Of Religion, Corruption and Happiness: by John Ukah

Religious affectation has been elevated to an art in Nigeria and honed to a fine point. This sharp point is now stabbing, like a furious and deranged enemy, at our collective progress. Full of promises as aspiring political office candidates, empty on delivery as public office holders, our leaders indulge in religious chicanery to hoodwink the unsuspecting.

A 2008 world survey conducted by the German think-tank Bertelsmann Foundation revealed that about 90 per cent of Nigerians regard themselves as religious. This finding was conducted by a leading international social researcher, the German Bertelsmann Stiftung.

Crossing 21 nations, the study surveyed 21,000 individuals to produce the most extensive and detailed comparative study on the significance of religion in the main cultures of the world. Brazil and Morocco share the top position with Nigeria. In Morocco, around 99 percent believe in God and life after death.

In Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria this figure is around 90 percent, and in Israel, Indonesia and Italy it is 80 percent. The countries where the younger population is less concerned with religious faith are almost all in the Western cultural sphere extending from Australia to Spain.

Not too long ago, Nigeria was also adjudged as the country with the happiest people. It is also ranked by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. How does one begin to reconcile these apparently confounding paradoxes? The most religious people and yet the most corrupt people?

Two recent events will serve to illustrate our proclivity towards religious grandstanding. The reactions and shenanigans expose our duplicity and the tomfoolery of our religious posturing.

The people of Ikyobo village in Ushongo local government area of Benue State are in mourning. This follows the fall of a large tree branch at the centre of the village market square which claimed the lives of no fewer than eight persons while scores sustained varying degrees of injury.

The incident – a large and old tree branch fell and crushed people – has however been described as ‘mysterious’ by the deeply religious villagers. The unfortunate incident occurred on a market day at the peak of commercial activities which usually takes place under the tree where traders display their wares for customers to make purchases.

The people now live in fear of the unknown because most of them believe that the incident could not be unconnected to witchcraft or the anger of the gods who decided to vent their rage on the people for unidentified reasons. A youth leader, who refused to disclose his name, explained that the community had never witnessed such magnitude of disaster in their history.

The villagers believe that there was something supernatural about the incident, hence were scared of discussing the issue in order not to further incur the wrath of the gods. They have now decided to seek the face of God for spiritual help in order to cleanse the community of ungodly acts and evil powers.

If this event occurred in the unenlightened, primitive Neanderthal era, it might have been easy to understand the reactions. The conclusions reached by the villagers of Ikyobo are not only far fetched but utterly ridiculous. This is sadly the reaction of a group of people in the 21st century about a natural incident such as an old tree branch falling. This incident happened in the month of July, 2010.

The next religious absurdity took place in Plateau State. The Governor of the state, Jonah Jang, declared one month of fasting with intense prayers to stem the tide of ethno-religious conflagrations in the state. Ten people were recently gruesomely murdered in Mazah village in Jos North local government area of the state by unknown assailants. The Governor urged the residents to pray for God’s intervention against security threats facing the state. Jang added that only God can avert the tragedy currently befalling the state.

When the chief executive and also the chief security officer of a state is overwhelmed and resigned to his helplessness, what hope is there for the common man? The Governor has thrown his hands up in despair and left the citizens at the mercy of the heavenly hosts.

Pray, what happens to the millions allocated as security votes for Plateau State? This is a sad reflection of the poverty in the land. The nation is poor indeed. The poverty isn’t just the economic poverty of the teeming masses. It is also a poverty of the mind, dearth of positive ideas by those at the helm of affairs. Ruinous and poor leadership ensconced in religious verbiage.

Despite the Herculean and arduous task it must be to govern a state like Lagos with an estimated staggering population of over 15 million people, I can’t imagine Babatunde Raji Fashola wringing his hands helplessly in the face of economic, social, security, ethnic or religious challenges and admonishing the people of Lagos State to look up to the celestial beings for succor.

I can’t imagine him twiddling his thumbs ineffectually and declaring such mounting challenges as insurmountable for mere man. Rather he would look for innovative ways to tackle the issues headlong. But then in the history of mankind and in the act of governance, there have always been the innovative pacesetters and there have always been laggards.

We have been left behind by other nations because our priorities are sadly skewed while we pursue empty spiritual motions and notions that are not heart felt and end up as mere abstract inanities. We have the climate, abundance of natural and human resources to tackle the myriad of problems that beset us. We have the resources to make the desired leap to industrialization but rather than do this we concern ourselves with the façade and theatrics of spirituality whereas our values of hard work, honesty, thrift and scale of priorities are not just right.

Plateau State has witnessed unending strife, killings and wanton destruction of property.

The spate of insecurity across the country is also alarming. There is persistent and prevailing poverty in the country. No amount of fervent prayers or fasting is going to bring a halt to the crisis in Plateau State nor alleviate this crippling and abject poverty except we do things the right way and get our act right. We should forget all the religious razzmatazz and concentrate instead on getting the basics and the fundamentals right. Even the holy books advise that faith without works is dead.

This tomfoolery and religious posturing won’t take us anywhere as a nation. Unfortunately from the Bertelsmann Foundation findings, there is a correlation between the poor nations (poverty) and the level of religiosity.

Across the country today, we have all sorts of shady characters holding public offices. Some of these public office looters are previously indicted persons and jailbirds who should not have been allowed out of the prisons in the first place. Morally bankrupt, depraved in mind, bereft of positive ideas, they explain away their colossal failures and avarice with religious rhetoric that are bought by gullible members of the public.

Churches, mosques, shrines and other places of religious worship dot our landscape. There is no gainsaying the fact that we are fervent about our religious beliefs and hold them tenaciously but are we actually practicing the tenets?