Hey guys, got back from church feeling energized to write (i haven’t written much in a while) so i decided to rant my views clearly out on a sensitive topic “Religion”… this article is inspired by a tweet I saw some days back by “@anthorigaga” and it’s clearly my own view of our country Nigeria, if you don’t agree with me just scroll down and hit the clap button… I decided to air my views though it’s not like my regular entrepreneurship, tech posts… let’s say am being patriotic lol.
You all would agree with me that the biggest country in Africa that Britain colonized is Nigeria and the biggest country that Britain colonized in Asia is India which then consists of the Pakistan and Bangladesh presently. The colonialism came with its advantages and disadvantages though the disadvantages of colonialism is far more than its advantages, the main advantage is the civilization while the disadvantage is the economic dependency on the colonial masters which till today Nigeria is still paying loyalty to, but when our colonial masters came into Nigeria in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, like all other countries which was colonized, they brought along their technology, religion (Christianity), and culture: names, dressing, food, and language, diseases (yes, they did) among others. Furthermore, the Africa’s economy was very good but they pestered on our mentality using the excuse of Nigerian’s not being civilized and religious and washed the brains of our fore fathers to depend on them and give up their lands containing rich natural resources and our beliefs to follow their religion (Christianity). I won’t lie at that time aside from the extortion and slave trade the living conditions in Nigeria changed a lot with the forced western culture imposed on us e.g. dressing, clothing, religion and act of doing everything in their ways.
Almost the same strategy was used during the colonization of India by Britain but the funny part of it is that as hard as the British did, India took less interest in the British religion (Christianity), names, dressing, food and even language, but they did not reject the British technology and other form of civilization.
Recent statistics show 78.35% practise Hinduism, 14.88% practise Islam, 2.5% practise Christianity, amongst others while Hinduism still remain the 2nd highest growing religion in India with 16.8% growth. Don’t ask me how I know all these cos I googled them to arrive at my point, lol…
I’ve been to India severally, It is rare to find an Indian who portray an English name first or dressed in western attire apart from the top cities, Oh yes… you need to see the ladies, you hardly see them on miniskirts or dinner gown for events at least lovers of Bollywood movies or Zee World can attest to this, or parading churches on every street corner making noises everyday with prayers, instead they stayed true to their culture and beliefs.
The health care system in India is universal, they tend to have one of the best health care systems in the world with up to date infrastructures to treat almost all health issues that being said, it’s also rumoured that they have a free healthcare system for their citizens. It’s also a popular destination for alternative medicine (traditional medicine), you need to see how many people come into India daily from Africa (Nigeria) to treat their health issues and also their IT/Educational industry is top notch.
On the other hand, Nigeria embraced to a large extent, the British religion, British culture, names, dressing, foods and language but ironically, rejected the British technology.
The difference between the Nigerian and the Indian experiences is that while India is proud of its culture, Nigeria takes little pride in its own culture, a situation that has affected the nationalism of Nigerians and our development as a nation.
So from the North to the South of Nigeria, the Western World and the Eastern World have shaped our lives to be like theirs and we have lost much or all of our identity. The United Arab Emirates, a country with 75 per cent Muslims, is erecting the tallest building in the world and encouraging the world to come and invest in its territory by providing a friendly environment while the Boko Haram sect ensures that the economy of the North (and by extension that of Nigeria) is crippled with bombs and bullets unless every Nigerian converts to Boko Haram’s brand of Islam. You’ll agree with me that there is something wrong with our approach to religion in Nigeria
While we were building the biggest churches and mosques spending government funds on pilgrimages, the Indians, South Africans, Chinese, Europeans and Americans were taking over our key markets: telecoms, satellite TV, multinationals, banking, oil and gas, automobile, aviation and industries among others. Ironically, despite our exploits in religion, we are a people with little godliness, a people without scruples. It is rare to do business with a Nigerian religious leader (pastor, deacon, knight, imam, mallam, alhaji or alhaja) without the person laying landmines of bribes and deception on your path.
With the way things are going, one would have assumed that the more churches and mosques that spring up in every nook and cranny of Nigeria, the higher the morals in our society. But it is not so. The situation is that the more religious we get, the viler we become. Our land never knew the type of bloodshed experienced from religious extremists, political desperadoes, ritual killers, armed robbers, kidnappers, internet scammers, cultists and lynch mobs.
The new started bloodshed in Benue & Rivers State. Life has become so cheap and brutish that everyday seems to be a bonanza. We import petrol even when we have crude oil in abundance. We also import rice and beans that our land can produce in abundance. We even import toothpicks that primary school children can produce with little or no effort. India produces automobile and exports it to the world. India’s medical care is second to none with even Americans and Europeans travelling to the country for medical treatment. India has joined the nuclear powers nations. INDIA OH! INDIA!
India has launched a successful mission to the moon. Yet bicycles and tricycles are common sights in India. But in Nigeria, only the “wretched” of the earth ride tricycle (Keke Napep). Before the end of this month, Nigeria will overtake India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty. This is contained in the World Poverty Clock, a report recently released by the World Data Lab that tracks poverty estimates in about 99.7 percent of the countries in the world. I purposely decide to compare Nigeria with India rather than China, America, South Korea, Brazil, Malaysia, or Singapore because of the slight similarities between India and Nigeria. But these countries were not as promising as Nigeria at the time of our independence. Some would say that our problem is from our population but the 2012 United Nations estimate puts Nigeria’s population at 166,000 million, while India has a population of 1.2 billion. While some would blame it on the multiplicity of ethnic groups we have 250 ethnic groups, India has more than 2,000, some would also hang it on the diversity in religion we have two major religions Christianity and Islam but India has many. Some would say it is because we are young as an independent nation we have 57 years old since independence, India has 70 years. When did the apartheid end in South Africa? Was it not in 1994? Now look at the progress our southern continental neighbours are going through notwithstanding that they still have recorded cases of corruption till date. I am a Christian, and nothing in this world would make me deviate from Christianity. But I think that Nigeria is daily sinking into religiosity to the detriment of godliness. Our land is sick and needs healing as well as all the help we can get.
We need more godliness than religion, more work and less of hope, and more action and less of words!!! Imagine Nigerian’s fasting and praying over things the Government can simply provide, I believe that’s why we’re being preyed on by religious leaders. I can go on and on but… Am tired! God help Nigeria… Make I go chop Sunday rice, lol… Take care!
