The Construction of Religious Identity and Recognition in Nigeria

Staff Writer


Table of Contents

Identity construction in Nigeria is arguably rooted in ethnicity, tribal majority, and religious supremacy. They form the basis for defining who a Nigerian is and where they come from? Patriotism doesn’t count much when it comes to constructing identity in Nigeria. There are many reason reasons for this claim. For example, the Nigerian state does not recognize the existence of its citizens. By this, the emphasis is not on the compulsory enforcement of getting the National Identity Cards but on the state providing for the citizens the basic amenities for living, such as motorable roads, electricity, water, functioning hospitals, steady and timely education, and employment. Those are things of the past. They stopped in the early 1980s. These infrastructures are considered luxuries and only the rich and their relatives can enjoy them now. Questions of nationalism and service to the nation are defined by the individuals’ ties to their ethnicities, tribes, and religions.

To analyze the construction of religious identity and recognition in Nigeria, some undiluted answers are expected to the questions of politics of identity.

  • Who am I?
  • Where do I come from?
  • What is my religion?

The identity questions above raise the onto-ethnic, tribal, and religious relativity problems that surround the individual person in Nigeria. This analysis of the construction of religious identity and recognition in Nigeria will spotlight how religion has been politicized and how it has become the source of conflict between Christians and Muslims.

Nigeria’s Demography

Nigeria is located on the Gold Coast of West Africa. In the North, it is bordered by Niger and Chad, in the South by the Atlantic Ocean, in the East by Cameroon, and in the West by Benin Republic. It is a country that covers massively 356,668.82 square miles. In October 2020, the population of Nigeria was estimated at 206 million and this gives it the title of the seventh most populous country in the world. By 2030 the population is estimated to increase to 263 million and to further increase to 401 million in 2050 and that will hand it again the title of the third most populous country on the planet. This figure has its implications. UN’s Human Development Index revealed that by the end of May 2018, 87 million Nigerians were living in extreme poverty when compared to 73 million in India which was previously known to have the highest level of poverty.  

This population is not one congruous people. Rather, the population is ethnically and religiously divisive and mixed. With its 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria has over 500 ethnic groups and over 500 languages spoken. What a polyglot nation? Diversity would have been an enviable blessing for political, economic, and cultural pluralism for nation-building, but that is not the case. Below is a bird’s eye view of the ethnic peoples.

Nigeria’s Major Ethnic Groups (Source – World Atlas)

Rank

Ethnic Group

% Of the population

1

Hausa

25.1%

2

Yoruba

21.0%

3

Igbo

18.0%

4

Ijaw

10.0%

5

Kanuri

4.0%

6

Fulani

3.9%

7

Ibibio

3.5%

8

Tiv

2.5%

*

Other Groups

12%

The population of the Hausa is estimated at 67 million and makes up 25% of the Nigerian population. They majorly identify themselves as Muslims. They have also dominated Nigeria’s political field since its Independence from Britain in 1960. 

The Yoruba is second with 21% of the population and is settled in the Southwest of Nigeria. They identify themselves as partly Muslims or partly Christians and some identify themselves as practising traditional African religions. 

The Igbos take the third position and are majorly settled in the Southeast of Nigeria. They identify themselves as Christians. The Ijaw settled in the South-South of Nigeria, that is the Niger River Delta. The Kanuri are settled in the Northeast of Nigeria and are mostly Sunni Muslims. The Fulani share 3.9% of the population and are intertwined with the Hausa of Nigeria. Both make up 29% of Nigeria’s population. 

For the most part, Nigerian leaders have been extracted from the Fulani and Hausa, namely: Ahmadu Bello, Shehu Shagari, Abubakar, Yar’Aduas, Atiku, Buhari, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammad, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, and more. It can be said that they are the most politically influential (for better or worse) tribes in Nigeria. 

The Ibibio settled in South-South Nigeria. They identify themselves as Christians. The Tiv people are settled in the middle belt of Nigeria and identify themselves as more Christians than Muslims. Other groups constitute 12% of the population and are mainly settled in the middle belt of Nigeria.

Identity Construction in Nigeria

The tribes and ethnicities that settled in the north formed a traditionalist and Muslim alliance. On the other hand, most Southern settlers formed a Christian and Western mission-led education alliance. Previously, because the Southern peoples were arguably educated, the Northern peoples feared that any introduction of central or federal administrative structures would lead to mission-educated Southerners controlling the political sphere of Nigeria. This fear of Southern domination was not taken very lightly. There was invariably serious tension between the north and south. The tension became evident in the series of violent religious conflicts that the Christian and Islamic religions have witnessed.

The fundamental religious and political cleavages within Nigeria are marked on every post and standard. Almost more than half of Nigeria’s population is Muslim and in Nigerian politics, religion and ethnicity play central roles. Instead of Nigeria’s ethnic, tribal, and cultural pluralism tapping into the advantages of diversity, they have become strong reasons for bias, intolerance, and dichotomy. Nigeria’s identicalness of politics with religion and tribe has ruined its progress and development.

According to Hannah Arendt, “plurality is basic to the human condition.” Though we are different from each other and often strive to distinguish ourselves further, each dimension of distinction is apt at least tacitly to establish a community with a set of others similarly distinguished.  The Nigerian situation is very different. Their diversity is dichotomized by regions, nationhood, and tribalism. This division is not about the individual, it is about the group. It is about group identities and the individual is swallowed up in the reflexes and doctrines of hegemonic bigots.

In the construction of identity in Nigeria, onto-ethnic, tribal, and religious motives provided a vane backdrop for their divisiveness instead of diversity. The individual is embodied with the knowledge of their culture and religion. The individual is nothing outside their ethnic group or tribe. The individual is interwoven with religious and ethnic supremacy and essentialism. Religion becomes a part of identity constructionism, a defining institution of recognition and acceptability. Religious politics is the end product of the construction’s religious identity and recognition.

In many ways, Christianity and Islam in Nigeria have helped in the creation and consolidation of group identity and unity. The individual is an entity within a bigger entity; the individual is a whole of a larger whole. The individual maintains their tribal marks, religious affiliations, and ethnic origins while discussing anything about Nigeria.

Nigeria is second to who they are. Where they come from takes precedence over patriotism. And their religious doctrine is better than the constitution of Nigeria.

As the country’s constitution cannot provide a good living, peace, and order to the people, religion in Nigeria tries to provide meaning to life through an organized culture pattern through the individual to supply the deficiencies from the central or state governments, institutions, organizations, cults breeding hatred ideologies and conflicts. With an organized cultural pattern, religion even as part of identity construction can transform individuals' and groups’ social and spiritual well-being. Since the late 1980s, the number of different religious groups, sects, and denominations has grown astronomically. Why? 

Religion has assumed the role of communicating some social-psychological and spiritual benefits to its adherents as well as ideologies of hate and fear. Religions, especially, Islam and Christianity have become confrontational, restrictive, and intolerant. Spreading the Word of God can be viewed as more than preaching Christ; it also implies fighting Islam and spreading Islamic missions can be viewed as attacking Christians.

The common identity of belonging to a particular religion be it Christianity or Islam, for example, in Nigeria, supersedes every other commonality that should exist in the plurality of nation-building. A faithful Muslim challenges the Christian mission and conversion tactics. A practising Christian is also one who confronts Islam and challenges the Qur’anic authority. Both religions have seen their different shares of religious violence in Nigeria and stages are set daily for a new conflict. The tensions between the two do not restrict themselves to “Who is the true God?” The tensions come from who controls power and Nigeria’s natural resources: Northerners or Southerners? Hausa/Fulani or Yoruba, Igbo, or other tribes?

Who controls the nation, its people, and its economy are evidently viewed from the perspective of their religious affiliations? Nigeria’s dirty and corrupt politics and politicians have entangled power with resources, religion, and tribe. It is a complicated situation. Religion or tribe is enough ground to obtain political and bureaucratic offices. Whoever is in power, that is the president of the country surrounds himself with people from his tribes, religion, and ethnicity. Political offices are given not by merit but through nepotism and favoritism. No wonder charlatans and frauds gallivant on the corridors of power to loot and siphon money into their personal accounts.

In most pluralistic societies, like the United States, religion is not the main subject of resource control as it is in Nigeria. However, the United States has its own problems with religious conservativism as they are bent on reversing some liberal precedent rulings on abortion, contraception, marriage equality, and same-sex copulation.

Conclusion

Pluralism is a complex interlocking of different groups whose members might be pursuing their diverse interests through the medium of private associations but still guided by a good system of representative government. Nigeria’s society appears to have shunned its pluralism, and that makes it difficult for development and growth. Until Nigeria makes it a point of duty to see its citizen as a citizen and not as someone from “my tribe, my religion or my ethnic group”, it will continue to remain an underdeveloped, backward, and unprogressively backyard of Africa’s corrupt dumps.  

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