By Nura
H. Alkali
June 5, 2004
June 5, 2004
Nigerians
have claimed to be among the most religious people in the world. In a recent
survey conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation, Nigeria topped the list
often countries by having the highest percentage of people who believe in God,
compared to 46% in the UK and only 28% in South Korea. Yet, the 2004 report of
Transparency International, the Berlin-based global corruption watchdog, showed
that Nigeria has still maintained its permanent position as the second most corrupt
country in the world after Bangladesh. Meanwhile, episodes of religious
violence engulfed the nation once again, resulting in the destruction of
property and the deaths of hundreds of innocent victims in Plateau and Kano
states.
In
less than a generation, but especially in the last five years of civilian
administration, we have deteriorated from a potentially great African country
that was the pride of the black race, to become a menace not only to ourselves,
but also to the entire world. Nigerians, more than other nationals, have defrauded
people worldwide, either through the internet or by other methods of advanced
fee fraud. Nigerian women are repatriated daily from Spain and Italy, where
they have found lucrative markets for their bodies. In addition, Nigerians are among
few nationals subjected to rigorous bodily searches at foreign airports because
of our reputation in drug trafficking. The rest of the world now views us as a
people who, not being contented with the burning of mosques and churches and
the prospects of annihilating one another in due course, but who have also
managed to become a threat to the international community and a hindrance to
the progress of mankind.
Within
Nigeria itself, not a single community can boast of uninterrupted access to clean
water or electricity in any 24-hour period. Hardly does a week pass without
news report of ethnic or religious massacre of one people by another. Daily
life in our country has simply become synonymous with tragedy, ranging from
highway robberies in which several people lose their lives within a shouting
distance of a police checkpoint, to the case of government forces wiping out an
entire village in order to avenge the death of their colleagues killed by armed
militias. In short, we have turned our land into what Jean-Martin Charcot, the
19th century French physician, would call a “great asylum of human misery”.
The
question then arises, how can a people claiming to be among the most religious
on the planet manifest this kind of behaviour? To a casual observer, the answer
must be that ours is a country of religious zealots who have found it difficult
to tolerate one another, and that we all worship a god who teaches us to be
corrupt and to kill and maim one another at the slightest excuse. However, as
appealing as this excuse may sound to those among us with a guilty conscience,
the sad truth remains that Nigeria is a country populated mainly by adherents
to Islam and Christianity, the same two religions that are practiced in other
countries where the citizens have respect for the sanctity of human life and
the rule of law, and where governments dispense justice and good governance.
So, did the BBC mix up their facts in declaring us the most religious of
countries? Unfortunately, the answer is again, no. Rather, we Nigerians are
missing the point.
In
this article, I will try to show that most of us are nothing more than a bunch
of morally decadent hypocrites passing for Muslims and Christians. We invoke
the name of God only when it suits our purpose, while in reality we are liars,
thieves and murderers who try to deceive ourselves and the rest of the world
into thinking that we are more religious than the rest of humanity, when
evidence to the contrary is there for all to see. I will approach this issue by
examining the relationship between Nigerians and God. First, at the individual
level and then at the level of society.
The individual
There
is no doubt that most Nigerians claim to believe in God and to worship Him,
especially if the form of worship involves public appearances such as Friday
prayers and Sunday mass. Many Muslims and Christians also perform daily prayers
and fast at some point in the course of a year. However, for most, that is
where religion ends and hypocrisy begins.
In
the case of Muslims, there are two more forms of worship, namely giving out
Zakat or the wealth tax, and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca if one is able.
However, these two aspects of Islam have been so distorted and abused by a
number of Nigerian Muslims that you wonder if indeed they believe in God. Many wealthy
Muslims avoid giving out Zakat altogether, and those who do find a way to
undermine it to the extent that its whole aim is defeated. For instance, some
give out only a fraction of what is due, while others give not to the needy, but
to their well-to-do cronies, fortune-tellers, etc. As for the Muslim pilgrimage
to the holy land, a recurring pattern has emerged over the years. First, politicians
award free seats to their mistresses and praise-singers, all paid for by public
money, contrary to Islamic teachings that encourage intending pilgrims to pay
for themselves or be sponsored by someone, not governments. Accompanying pilgrims
on an official capacity is a different matter. This same category of pilgrims
will then be denied their basic travel allowance of 500 US dollars, the money having
been claimed by the politician or his lieutenants, themselves Muslims. The
intending pilgrim then has no choice but to borrow money for his BTA from
friends and relatives, again contrary to Islamic teachings.
However,
fulfilling the five pillars of Islam, even if done correctly, hardly makes one
a complete Muslim. The Quran and the Hadith of the prophet, (peace be upon
him), have set out explicitly how a Muslim should lead his existence in this
world, covering the period of his birth up to the time of his death. Thus, a
Muslim is taught how to name his newborn child; how the child should be raised;
how he should marry; how he relates with his fellow humans of whatever
religious persuasion; how to hold public office and how after his death, his
estate will be shared among his heirs, and so on. Practically every Muslim in
Nigeria knows all these. Whether we practice them is another matter. Take the
case of public office. How many Nigerian Muslims have resisted the temptation
of receiving bribes or of awarding government contracts to themselves when
holding public office? How many Muslim police officers did not demand the
payment of bribes in the course of their duties? How many Muslim doctors,
teachers, surveyors or government regulators have resisted the offer of a bribe
from patients, students, builders and others in exchange for preferential treatment
or favourable reports? In Nigeria, I would say quite a few. Yet, we all know
the punishment for these sins and we call ourselves the most religious on earth!
Christianity
has similarities with Islam in that it is monotheism, involving prayers to God,
pilgrimage to a holy land and a reward for good deeds and heavenly punishment
for sinners. Christians commit all the sins committed by Muslims in equal measure.
In fact, a gang of robbers attacking a highway in Northern Nigeria is likely to
consist of both Christians and Muslims, as police parades of robbery suspects
have consistently revealed on television broadcasts. Similarly, the police
officers themselves who extort from motorists usually have adherents to both
religions in their midst.
So,
if the overwhelming majority of us believe in a god, to which god are we
referring? For an answer, let us start by looking at our societies.
The
society
In the city of Benin, Edo State, a group of 11 women
butchers was recently suspended from work by official
of the butchers association for refusing to swear by Ogun, the “god of iron”,
to clear the suspicion that they were using magic to kill their male
colleagues, many of whom have died in “explained nonetheless. The arguments of
these women, that as Christians they could not swear to another god, were
ignored. Most alarmingly, this event has happened in a state where the
governor, the attorney general, the police commissioner and the traditional
rulers are all bible-reading, church-going Christians, but the suspension
remain in place and the poor women are deprived of their livelihood. Meanwhile, whether the affected women and their dependents can
still eat three meals a day is no one’s business. So much for a society that
believes in God!
In Yoruba societies, it is accepted practice to have a child by a
woman before wedding in order to be sure that she is fertile. Similarly, all
forms of fetish practice involving the killing of animals and sometimes human
take place regularly to satisfy certain oracles in the process of making
someone’s prayer answered. Yet to my knowledge, the Yoruba’s are either Muslims
or Christians, and neither Islam nor Christianity condones murder, prayers to
other deities or having a child outside wedlock.
The clergy have
not helped matters the proliferation of churches, imams and “prophets” has ensured a
steady stream of sermon in which the topics always centre on “miracles”,
“demons” and “forces of darkness”. Not to be outdone, producers of Nigerian
movies are reaping millions in profit because they have understood that the best-selling
films should always have plots involving one form of black magic or another.
Superstition is not restricted to southern Nigeria. However, in
Muslim societies of Northern Nigeria, it is more subtle, perhaps because it is
seriously frowned upon in Islam. Even then, it is practiced with much vigour in
private, if not in public. If, for instance, a Muslim begins to question
whether magic and witchcraft are real phenomena, others who believe in them are
quick to remind him of Quran chapter 114 and some hadith that reported how Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) himself was a victim at some point in his life. With this
justification, a patient who suffers a stroke, an unmarried woman who fails to
find a suitor, a young man who has become a drunkard and a trader who becomes
bankrupt are all victims of certain enemies, usually stepmothers and
competitors. Fraudsters with very little knowledge of Islam but parading
themselves as Mallams readily encourage these beliefs with the prospects of
receiving huge payments to either “protect” an imagined victim or to
“neutralize” his imaginary detractors.
However, the dangers of superstition pale in comparison to our
unconquerable desire for ill-gotten wealth and the perception that success in
life is determined by ownership of money. There is nothing wrong in seeking
money, as long as the process is legitimate. However, to openly flaunt stolen
wealth and then be praised by both the rulers and ruled is a peculiarly
Nigerian phenomenon. Thus, a civil servant or an elected politician will build
a hug mansion and but a fleet of cars costing several hundred times his yearly
income, for which in other countries he will face prosecution and a long prison
sentence. If not for theft, then certainly for tax evasion. In Nigeria, the
same person will be admired and praised as the symbol of success, and will be
honoured with traditional titles by so called royal fathers. Potential in-laws
will be jumping over each other to honour him with their daughters, while
universities will compete in a awarding him honoris causa.
Nigerians like complaining about bad leadership by those in power.
Yet, there can be no bad leader without a bad follower. If, as has been proven
in the case of Adamawa State, the present government rigged elections in most
cases, they did it with the connivance of ordinary citizens. In some cases,
election results were altered and in others, voting did not even take place
where a particular party has still managed to “win” the “election”. Then, if
soldiers, police officers, INEC officials, party thugs and other colluders in
this enterprise are not ordinary Nigerians, I wonder who is. Even where there
are no malpractices, we tend to vote for those who spend the most money or
based on ethnic and religious sentiments, not those with clear policies that
will uplift our well-being. So, why should we expect the elected official to
provide us with water, electricity, good roads and hospitals when we should
have known that he has to recover the amount he spent on his way to power? What
a tragedy for a people who believe in God but sell their votes!
In summary, it is clear that Nigerians believe in three types of
Gods: The God of the Quran and the Bible whom most of us only worship in
ceremonial ways, the gods of our ancestors to who we make sacrifices and by
whom we swear, and the god of money whom unlike the other two, we worship at
all times. Therefore, BBC was not wrong, after all. Ninety-eight per cent of us
believe in gods, although we could have avoided confusion by making this
clarification. Other countries with fewer believers also have their fair share
of individual and societal ills, but they are less corrupt than we are and
better than we may ever be, unless if we change our ways.
Dr Nura H. Alkali wrote in from the Institute of Neurology,
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, United Kingdom.
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