Angels or Demons? An overview of Religious Corruption in Nigeria

One of the prominent institutional challenges obstructing sustainable development in Nigeria is the pervasive issue of corruption, deeply ingrained within the context of inadequate national orientation and cultural norms. Consequently, this scholarly endeavor aims to scrutinize specific manifestations of corrupt practices associated with evangelical and indoctrinative activities in Nigeria, elucidating their ramifications for the nation’s developmental trajectory. Notably, the research uncovers a symbiotic relationship between the expansion of religious institutions and the proliferation of corrupt activities within the country, thereby asserting that the overarching influence of religion on national values plays a pivotal role in engendering the prevalent corruption in Nigeria. Corruption, herein defined as the manifestation of avarice, entails a deliberate departure from established codes of conduct governing the behavior of individuals in authoritative public positions, motivated primarily by self-serving interests, encompassing motives such as the pursuit of personal wealth, power, or social status (Ackerman, 1999). This multifaceted problem represents a pervasive failure to channel self-interest toward productive objectives, thereby epitomizing a grievous betrayal of institutional trust for personal enrichment.
Nigeria, characterized by its vast landmass of approximately 923,768 square kilometers and an extensive coastline along the Gulf of Guinea spanning roughly 774 kilometers, shares its international land borders with neighboring countries, including Benin, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon (Ikelegbe, 2009). Comprising 36 states alongside a Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria indisputably grapples with the severe challenge of corruption, as evidenced by the unabated embezzlement of public funds with impunity by certain public officeholders. Moreover, the private sector is rife with instances of insider trading and gross abuses of authority, vividly exemplified by the recent banking crisis within the nation. Consequently, Nigeria currently confronts a pervasive pandemic of corrupt practices across both public and private domains, exacerbated by the ineffective prosecution of numerous cases involving corrupt political officeholders. This situation underscores the prevalence of corruption, permeating Nigerian society from its lowest echelons to the highest strata.
Religiously, Nigeria accommodates three major faiths: Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religion (ATR), each marked by its own distinctive sects and cells, characterized by unique modes of worship and practices. Christianity, for instance, encompasses a spectrum of denominations, including but not limited to Catholics, Protestants, and Pentecostals, while within the Islamic sphere, one finds various sects such as Sunni, Shi’ite, Wahhabis, and the Suffis (Abdul-Rahman, 2004). The proliferation of Islamic sects, which has notably surpassed the predictions of Muhammad, exemplifies the diversity within this religious tradition. However, it is crucial to recognize that corruption has not spared any of these religions, as religious leaders sometimes exploit their positions for personal gain, diverting the focus of Nigerian churches from salvation-oriented evangelism to prosperity-centric approaches, even if these entail ethically questionable practices such as money laundering. Similarly, Islamic leaders have been implicated in manipulating religious texts to incite ethnic and religious conflicts, thereby contributing to the emergence of deadly extremist groups, including Boko Haram. Moreover, practitioners of African Traditional Religion (ATR) worship an array of deities, including Ogun (God of Iron), Orunmila (God of Divination), Sango or Amadioha (God of Thunder), and Esu, despite the perceived potency of ATR beliefs, corruption has infiltrated these practices, with diviners sometimes manipulating oracular divinations for personal gain.
In summary, despite Nigeria’s abundant endowments, particularly in oil wealth, a significant segment of its population continues to endure dire poverty. The path to achieving consensus on values and actions for sustainability is fraught with challenges, often marred by conflicting interests among various stakeholders. This divergence, at times driven by self-serving motives, threatens to undermine sustainable development efforts by derailing the policy formulation process. Sustainable development, as articulated in the Brundtland Report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), hinges on striking a harmonious balance between economic, social, and environmental interests across generations. Furthermore, the pervasive issue of institutional corruption in Nigeria, as outlined in Keeper (2012), has deep historical roots, perpetuated through systems of exploitation, injustice, and class-based privilege. This scholarly inquiry primarily centers on the manifestation of corrupt practices within religious spheres and its detrimental implications for sustainable development in Nigeria. It is worth noting that the intricate interplay between religion and politics in Nigeria introduces additional layers of complexity to this issue, necessitating comprehensive strategies to combat corruption and instill ethical values within religious institutions.
However, the number of Islamic sects has far exceeded Muhammad’s prediction (for the sects of Islam are now over 150). Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religion (ATR) have not escaped the romance of corruption, probably due to its permeable nature. Church leaders now rub their congregations by manipulating the gospel for their personal gains. The Nigerian churches have drifted from the evangelism of salvation to that of prosperity, even if it entails robbing. There is media hype on Pastors collecting laundered funds as tithe and offering without recourse to the source. The Islamic religion is not left out as many Islamic leaders are now manipulating the Qur’an by encouraging ethnic and religious conflicts. This phenomenon has transformed into terrorism marked by the emergence of deadly terrorist groups such as Boko-Haram. In Nigeria, the adherents of ATR worships different types of gods such as, Ogun (God of Iron), Orunmila (God of Divination), Sango or Amadioha (God of Thunder) and Esu (Jemiriye, 1998; Johnson, 1921). Despite the potency of ATR, it is not in any way immune to corruption, as Diviners of ATR now manipulate oracular divinations in some circumstances to suit their personal cravings. Despite the Nigerian oil wealth, most of her citizens continues to languish in abject poverty. Studies have shown that achieving consensus on sustainability values and actions is often difficult and painful, different stakeholders’ interests are forced to the surface, compared and contrasted, criticized and debated (Kates et al 2005). Thus, some individual stakeholders find the process threatening to their selfish agenda thereby rejecting the process entirely to pursue their own white elephant project. Thus, undermining sustainable development in policy formulation. Development is sustainable if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (Brundtland Report: World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). According to Soubbotina (2004), for development to continue indefinitely, it should balance the interests of different groups of people from generation to generation and do so simultaneously in three major interrelated areas – economic, social, and environmental. Institutional corruption is a major problem impeding sustainable development in Nigeria (Keeper, 2012). The Nigerian state has been sustained over time by institutionalizing systems of exploitation, injustice, and class privilege. The focus of this paper is on corrupt practices in religious circles and how it impedes sustainable development in Nigeria.
According to Koppelman (2009), government neutrality toward religion is based on the importance of avoiding religious conflict, alienation of religious minorities, and the danger that religious considerations will introduce a dangerous irrational dogmatism into politics and make democratic compromise more difficult. Religion played a central role in shaping Nigeria’s modern political thought. Ilesanmi (1997) examines the complexities arising from the historical consequences of religious politics in a pluralistic Nigerian society. Thus, suggesting an inseparable nexus between religion and politics in Nigeria. Though, defining corruption may be complex, the practice of corruption is easily identifiable. In this work, religious corruption is conceptualized as the misuse of a position of authority for personal or group benefit, involving a deliberate breach of legal norms by religious leaders. Onongha (2007) examined the intersections of corruption and Christian ethics. According to this work, corruption can be traced to the fall of man as recorded in the book of Genesis. Onongha argues that the absence of Christian ethics in the educational curriculum is responsible for the widespread corruption in Nigeria and concluded that the panacea to the Nigerian problem is the integration of Christian ethics into the national curricula. Umachi (2007) suggested that the Nigerian situation is very similar to the biblical one in terms of corrupt practices. He argues that while some bows to corruption in biblical times others withstood it. Umachi agreed that corruption is real and has shown a corrosive effect in Nigeria and concluded that unless Nigerians tow the example of Paul in his escapade with Felix in the Bible, the country will never win the war against corruption. In a similar perspective, Nwaomah (2007) asserts that corruption entails an attempt by some people to legitimize inequality by robbing most of the commonwealth and appropriating such loot for their self-better. Nwaomah argues that a successful war on corruption requires a holistic effort involving the teaching of Christian ethics in churches. Corruption in religious circles is as old as antiquity. Indeed, all religions involved the worship of the supernatural. It is generally believed that organized religion has brought peace and harmony to the world and that its leaders are motivated by the service of their God. However, religion had used fear, hate and sometimes lies to control and manipulate people for the advantage of a selected group of individuals. For instance, the Crusades of the Middle-Ages are a typical example of religious corruption. The name Crusade was applied to the wars against pagan peoples, Christian heretics, and political foes of the papacy (Nicholson, 2004:53-91). The Spanish Inquisition was a judicial institution, established by the papacy in the Middle Ages, charged with seeking out, trying, and sentencing people guilty of heresy. To be a heretic, you did not have to commit a crime. This system was used by the church as a tool of oppression especially against the Jews and Muslims. The penalty for heresy was torture and death (Homza, 2006). The Jihad of the 19th century in Northern Nigeria was coined as a war against oppression and syncretism (Falola, 2002). However, the Islamic revolutionaries did not aim at just purifying Islam; the revolution was embedded on the political ambitions of the Jihadists (Korieh and Nwokeji, 2005). The aftermath of the Jihad resulted in a broader societal division between the ruling elite and the general populace, ultimately leading to significant disparities within the established Caliphate. These instances serve as examples of how individuals have employed religion to rationalize their greed and pursuit of power. It is disheartening that despite the widespread presence of churches and mosques throughout Nigeria, the country continues to grapple with rampant corruption. Christian evangelists are utilizing various media platforms, including satellite TV, newspapers, mobile phones, and the internet, to propagate the message of prosperity and materialism. Nowadays, reports of financial impropriety within Nigerian churches have become commonplace in the media. Analyzing this pattern, Kukah (2007) proposes that these pastors are actively seeking wealth under the guise of leading people to God, organizing recurring spiritual events known as revivals aimed at steering ordinary citizens away from a culture of hard work and the development of a genuinely Christian approach to wealth (Kukah, 2007).
The corrupt indoctrination, exemplified by the preaching of “get rich quick” messages within certain Nigerian churches, is exerting pressure on Christians to engage in corrupt activities. Presently, churches gauge their members’ commitment by equating their financial contributions to the church’s projects with their employment status or business standing. This approach is compelling many churchgoers to resort to financial wrongdoing in order to meet the financial expectations set by their respective churches. An illustrative case is that of the former Bank-PHB boss, Atuche, who transferred a sum of N45 million to a church as tithes using stolen funds. This money was channeled to two Catholic Church branches in Delta State through a bank transfer originating from Bank PHB Mortgage Limited accounts (Ogunbumi, 2012). The Kano incident is noteworthy as it marked the initial religious crisis with significant human and property casualties. Nevertheless, in 2002, another group, Boko-Haram, emerged from Northern Nigeria, sharing a similar ideological stance. In order to rationalize their objectives, it can be inferred that the Boko-Haram sect deliberately interpreted the concepts of Haram and Al-Munkar to encompass anything secular, thereby justifying their campaign against non-Muslims in the country. Consequently, the sect declared war on Western institutions in Nigeria and advocated for the implementation of Sharia law in a secular nation (Aleyomi, 2012; Adesoji, 2010).
The pervasive prevalence of corrupt practices among both public and private sectors in Nigeria has significantly compromised the nation’s potential for achieving sustainable development. In recent times, corruption has seeped into the legislative branch of government, exemplified by the prominent case involving Alhaji Lawan Farouk and the oil subsidy bribery scandal. Notably, Nigeria’s principal anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has brought corruption charges against approximately 40 highly influential political figures, both at the federal and state levels. Regrettably, the EFCC has struggled to secure substantial convictions in these cases, and even when convictions are achieved, the resulting prison sentences are often minimal or non-existent. This predicament can be attributed, in part, to the EFCC’s limited institutional independence from the executive branch. Moreover, the indoctrination propagated by religious leaders has played a pivotal role in fostering a culture of dishonesty, leading individuals to rationalize and perpetrate corrupt acts. This connection between religious teachings and corruption is discernible in the cases examined within this study. Consequently, the trajectories of religious expansion and the prevalence of corruption in the country appear to be interrelated and mutually reinforcing. Addressing this multifaceted issue necessitates concerted efforts from anti-corruption agencies and legislative bodies to formulate and enact legislation specifically targeting corruption within religious organizations. Religious leaders should be held accountable for the funds they receive and the doctrines they propagate, creating a system of transparency and responsibility. To advance the cause of sustainable development, policymakers should consider key developmental indicators such as a clear vision, a comprehensive and inclusive approach, a commitment to social equity, a focus on punctuality, the establishment of a well-structured framework, and the promotion of transparency.

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