by ANB-BIA, Brussels, February 1998
THEME = An ANB-BIA DOSSIER
Pope John Paul II is scheduled to visit
Nigeria 21-23 March
for the Beatification of Father Tansi, a Nigerian priest.
The Pope will visit Abuja, Enugu and Onitsha.
The following is a brief overall view of the Church in Nigeria
The Federal Republic of Nigeria consists of 36 States (for a long time there were 30 States, but six more were added in 1996). Here are a few facts and figures: Area - 923,768 sq.km; Population - Nigeria has the largest population of all countries in Africa, 115 million (cf. L'Etat du monde 1998) with an annual population growth of 3.03%; Capital - Abuja situated in the centre of the country; Main cities - Lagos, Ibadan, Kano. (Nigeria's urban population is estimated at 40% of the total population).
Nigeria is Africa's economic giant, based on its oil boom which guarantees three-quarters of the Federal Revenue and 98% of export revenue.
Nigeria has more than 400 ethnic groups, some of them very small. The most important group is the Hausa-Fulani (in the north), the Yoruba (in the south-west) and the Ibo (in the east).
Nigeria's history since Independence in 1960 has been a succession of coups d'etat, with military governments alternating with civilian governments. Ev-ents connected with Biafra's secession and the civil war which followed (1967-1970) were especially vicious years in Nigeria's history.
The most recent coup d'etat took place on 17 November 1993, when General Sani Abacha took power after the annulled presidential elections. (Provisional results placed Moshood Abiola in the lead). On 12 June 1994, the anniversary of his election, Abiola declared himself President. On 23 June 1994, he was arrested and is still in prison.
Abacha's authoritative regime has gradually toughened. In 1995, the author, Ken Saro-Wiwa, with eight other members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (who were calling for the right to self-determination) were condemned to death. There was an international outcry. Nigeria was promptly suspended from the Commonwealth, which also imposed other sanctions on Nigeria, such as a complete arms' embargo. The United States, the European Union and other countries fell in line with this decision, demanding a return to democratic rule in Nigeria.
General Abacha is determined not to be rushed into a return to democracy. In the middle of 1996, a National Electoral Commission was established, which laid down precise criteria for the official recognition of political parties. Five parties were eventually "approved" (out of the twenty which had put their names forward). In March 1997, local council elections were held. The United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) led in the results, over the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN); the other three parties followed a long way behind.
Elections for the State Assemblies took place on 6 December 1997, with UNIP taking an unassailable lead against the other parties. The 1998 election programme is as follows: June - Federal Parliamentary Elections; August - Elections for State Governors; 1 October - Presidential Elections.
Nigeria's two main religions are Islam and Christianity. Only 5%-6% of the total population follow traditional religions.
Islam has been present in Nigeria for a very long time, and is found mainly in the north. Islam came to Nigeria via the commercial routes across the Sahara Desert and spread slowly into Hausa territory. The Yoruba resisted Islam until the 19th Century. In 1804, Ousmane Dan Fodio, a Peul from Gobir, the most western of the Hausa states (Sokoto region), launched a holy war against the pagans and the Islamic-pagan syncretism of the Hausa chiefs. Thus began the Peul empire and the extraordinary Islamic expansion, which first of all penetrated the north of present-day Nigeria, then advanced southwards into Yoruba country. Only the barricade presented by the forests stopped the Muslim advance.
Christianity had a somewhat sporadic beginning from the 15th century, with the chaplains who accompanied the European (mostly Portuguese) merchant-adventurers, plus some failed attempts at organised missionary work by the Spaniards. It was only during the middle of the 19th century that the first long-term efforts were made to evangelise the local people. This was undertaken by former slaves who had returned from America and who asked for Anglican and Methodist missionaries to help them in Yoruba country. In 1864, Henry Townsend founded, together with former slaves, the first Anglican mission in the north of Lagos. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a former slave from Oyo region, was consecrated a bishop of the Anglican Church in 1864, and established his seat in Lagos. Following the Anglicans came the Baptist and Methodist Churches.
Catholic missionaries arrived about twenty years after the first Protestants. In 1863, Father Francesco Borghera of the Society of African Missions (SMA), arrived in Lagos where he found some former Catholic slaves who had returned from Brazil. The first permanent mission was established there in 1868. The Holy Ghost Fathers settled themselves in Onitsha in 1885, and the Prefecture Apostolic of south Nigeria, in Ibo country, was erected in 1889. Other missionary congregations arrived and began work throughout the country. The first Nigerian priests were ordained in 1929. Dominic Ekandem became the first Nigerian to be consecrated a Catholic bishop. This was in 1953. In 1976 he was appointed Cardinal.
It is difficult to know the exact number of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria. Because accurate statistics are not available, religious groups tend to "bend" their totals. Some Muslims say they represent 80% of the population, which is clearly inexact. It is generally recognised that just over 50% of Nigerians call themselves Muslims, and 40% say they are Christians. The highest percentage of Muslims are in the north (Hausa country), whereas the south-east (Ibo country) is nearly all Christian. In the other regions (especially in the south-west, Yoruba country), the two religious groupings are somewhat mixed.
There are about eleven million Catholics in Nigeria, today - 10% of the total population - nearly a quarter of all Nigerian Christians.
The Church in Nigeria developed slowly, with education an important feature of the missionaries' work. From the very beginning, missionaries invested heavily in education, as a means of evangelisation and of human development. This strategy was welcomed by the people, so much so, that very quickly, the Catholic Church possessed a vast chain of primary and secondary schools. A large number of students eventually graduated from these schools, and went on to fill important positions in public life. However, at the beginning of the 1970s, after the Biafran civil war, the governments of most States decided to nationalise the schools. Many people see the influence of the Muslims at work here, because they say, the Muslims wanted to reduce the Christian influence existing in so many areas of public life.
The Catholic Church is presently organised as follows: 9 Archdioceses, 32 Dioceses, 2 Vicariates, and 1 Prefecture Apostolic. There are about 3,000 Nigerian priests and a large number of candidates for the priesthood in the country's twelve major seminaries.
Thanks to the number of vocations, the bishops of Nigeria have been able to look over and beyond their own needs, to those of other African countries. In 1997, the bishops founded their own missionary society, the Missionary Society of St. Paul. Nigerian missionaries from this Society are working in Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Botswana, and in some African-Negro parishes of the United States.
Christianity in Nigeria is noted by the multiplicity of different Churches, many of which are splinter-Churches from the traditional Churches.
Between 1888 and 1917, many African Churches separated from the Baptist, Methodist and Anglican Churches. They wanted to have their own African leaders and to give polygamists full Church membership. Doctrine and forms of worship of their Mother Churches were, however, retained.
More pronounced in this breakaway from the institutional Christian Churches, are the Spiritual Churches. They began to flourish after the First World War. In Yorubaland they are called Aludura Churches (Praying Churches). In the past they were founded (and still are) by "prophets" who responded to a "divine call".
Their members consider themselves to be real Christians. They interpret the Bible in a literal and fundamentalist manner, and present Christian doctrine in a simplified fashion. Emphasis is placed on the role of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ is seen as Lord and Healer. The main reason for joining these Churches seems to a deeply felt need to be cured and to provide a solution to problems. Their Prophets promise help, plus quick and often miraculous relief. Their religious services are extremely lively, imbued with human warmth, supercharged with emotion so that the congregation can forget their daily cares and worries. The Christian Faith is expressed in a truly African way, based on the culture of the local people.
Among the most important of these independent Churches are:
* The Christ Apostolic Church : one of the oldest independent Churches which separated itself from the Anglican Church. It owed its origin indirectly to an outbreak of a virulent influenza epidemic. Its members place their entire hope in the efficacity of prayer, reject all use of medicine and have entire confidence in God and holiness of life.
* The Eternal and Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim, founded in 1925. Its members consider themselves to be extensions of the heavenly hosts on earth. They are distinguished from other Churches by their form of attire, their processions, and their sometimes aggressive forms of evangelisation.
* The Celestial Church of Christ, founded in 1947. This is a forceful Church with strict demands and promises of quick success.
* The Deeper Life Bible Church, founded by Professor Kurumi of Lagos University. This Church has developed rapidly in recent years, especially among students and young people. There are long prayer meetings and calls for honesty of life and a simple style of living.
The members of these Spiritual Churches want to be authentic Christians. But there are also a number of charlatans and false prophets who are out to make a quick and easy profit. There are hundreds of new Churches in Nigeria; some say the figure may be as high as 10,000.
That tensions exist between Muslims and Christians is only too well known in Nigeria. It is too simplistic to talk about religious warfare. Ethnicity has frequently a part to play, either between, north and south (the Biafran war is the most striking example of this), or, also, in the north, between mainly Muslim ethnic groups and those who used to follow the traditional religions but who now have become Christians. The northerners are also jealous of the "go-ahead" attitude found in the south; this was one of the reasons why people from the south who came north, were murdered. They were judged to have too much influence in business.
During the last decade, there have been violent clashes between Christians and Muslims in the north. In 1987, 137 churches were destroyed in Kaduna State, after a former Muslim converted to Christianity had held forth on the Koran, in a manner judged "insulting" by students. Similar outbreaks of violence have been taking place at regular intervals. In 1980, more than 4,000 people were killed following an outburst by a fundamentalist Imam in Kano that all those who would not become Muslims should be killed. In 1984, more than 1,000 people were killed in Yola during the course of fighting caused by religious differences. In 1992, outbreaks of violence in the States of Bauchi and Kano led to many people being killed, churches and mosques burnt down and property destroyed. In May 1995, again in Kano, there was three days of fighting between Christians and Muslims resulting in many deaths and hundreds wounded.
Obviously what has happened cannot be ignored, but apart from the immediate causes for all this violence, there are more serious long-term causes existing between the religious groups which must be mentioned: lack of mutual understanding; refusal to listen to one another; deep mistrust of each other; the existence of both Muslim and Christian fundamentalists; a feeling of insecurity; fear (on the Christian side) of the Muslim majority imposing restrictions on the Christian minority, incompatible with freedom of religion enshrined in Nigeria's Constitution.
In February 1986, somewhat surreptitiously, Nigeria became a full member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). This gave rise to great controversy. Concerned Christians emphasised that Nigeria is a secular state and joining the OIC is against the Constitution. President Babangida tried to reassure them. He said the government had no intention of imposing a particular religion on the country and that Nigeria had joined the OIC in much the same way as it had joined the United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity and the Organisation of Exporting Petroleum Countries (OPEC).
Another bone of contention concerns the Sharia. In 1992, by way of paving the way for a return to civilian rule (which didn't take place), a new draft Constitution was in the process of being prepared. Muslims wanted to introduce Sharia Law into the Constitution. Christians were to the forefront in opposing it because of the secular nature of Nigeria's Constitution. Muslims countered by saying that in a multi-religion country, the interests of the various religious groups must be guaranteed. (They refuse the word "secular" for Nigeria). In the end, the military government, ever disposed to favour Muslim demands, approved the inclusion of the Sharia, though a weakened version, by way of a concession to Christians.
Indeed, Muslim-Christian relations in Nigeria are complicated by the role of the government. The present administration particularly seems to favour Muslims when it comes to appointments in key areas, both military and political. There is a widespread conviction among Christians in Nigeria, that Islam is being treated in practice as a state religion and that Nigeria is under threat of an officially sponsored Islamization. However, several eminent Muslim personalities in Nigeria have gone out of their way to condemn the on-going violence in the strongest possible terms, and are looking for ways and means to improve relations with their Christian fellow-citizens.
In 1987, the Federal Government established a Religious Advisory Council, as a permanent forum, permitting interaction between the country's various religious groups and encouraging mutual comprehension and good sense. The Council consisted of 12 members: 12 Muslim and 12 Christian. All the same, mutual suspicion and fear of government manipulation have combined to render the Forum moribund.
For their part, the Christian Churches wanted to present a united front in their dealings with both the government and the Muslims. With this in mind, the Christian Association of Nigeria was established. This Association included the Christian Council of Nigeria, the Catholic Church, the Pentecostal Churches and the independent Churches. But members' modus operandi is not always the same, sometimes it is downright contradictory.
In keeping with the teachings of Vatican II, the Catholic Church is ever ready to enter into dialogue with the Muslims in order to improve relations with them. In February 1982, Pope John Paul II visited Kaduna. He told Muslims: "In a true sense, we can call one another brothers and sisters in faith in the one God". And in Rome, receiving a new Nigerian ambassador to the Holy See, he repeated: "As you know, the Church has a deep respect for Muslims since she believes that the plan of salvation encompasses all who acknowledge the Creator. This respect includes a readiness to co-operate with them for the betterment of humanity and a commitment to search together for true peace and justice. Dialogue is the gateway to such cooperation". Probably, the Pope will return to this point when he visits Nigeria.
Since General Abacha took over power, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria has, on many occasions, expressed disquiet and even disapproval over the political line adopted by the government.
In 1994, in a communique issued at the end of their Plenary Assembly, the bishops condemned the grave damage caused by the present political impasse. They called on the authorities to keep in mind the people's misery and the good of the nation. The bishops asked Nigeria's leaders to take urgent steps to restore stability and democracy. They condemned the rampant corruption, and accused certain senior figures of pillaging the national resources and exploiting the present crisis for their own benefit. The bishops asked that political prisoners should be released and repressive decrees abolished, as a first step towards reconciliation and peace.
During their 1995 Plenary Assembly, the bishops returned to the attack and called on all Nigerians to reject all military regimes. They noted the decadence the country was falling into, the erosion of moral values, political instability, the growing crime-rate, be it banditry or murder by hit squads.
In November 1995, the Ogoni leaders were executed. The Catholic Bishops published a communique in which they expressed their deep concern over what had occurred. They spoke about the defence of life and said that peaceful and more constructive ways must be found to solve disputes. They called on the government to assume its responsibilities to create the conditions for peace and harmony, so that the necessary prerequisites can be found for restoring peace. The bishops reminded the authorities that they must respect the laws and norms found in every civilised nation of the world.
In 1996, the government established the National Reconciliation Commission (NARECOM). The Bishops expressed their satisfaction, at the same time asking the government to have another look at the Commission's make-up "so that it will reflect the various shades of public opinion, to include those known as "dissidents" or "opposition groups"". The Bishops emphasised that reconciliation presupposes accepting legitimate differences, and they pleaded for a wider opening of minds, so necessary to achieve reconciliation.
At the end of 1997, once again the Catholic Bishops drew attention to the deep distress in which the people found themselves, and condemned the current social evils: violence, unemployment, corruption. They said: "Most Nigerians' quality of life had degenerated to a level below all human dignity". They recognised that the government has played some part in the restoration of democracy, but at the same time, they condemned the activities of those who were working flat out so that the present military regime can succeed itself in 1998.
In their declarations, the Catholic Bishops have frequently condemned the deterioration of moral values. Already in 1983, Bishop Onaiyekan, then Auxiliary Bishop of Ilorin, (he is now Archbishop of Abuja), had written about a "credibility crisis".
He wrote: "This is a problem which is common to both Christianity and Islam in Nigeria. Many people are questioning the relevance of these religions to the real problems of our nation. They note that the Mosques are full on Fridays, and the churches overflow on Sundays...Nigerians are very religious, and most of them are either Christians or Muslims. And yet, corruption is rampant and public funds are embezzled on a large scale. Politicians often do not feel any obligation to tell the truth, as they deceive the public with empty promises. The state of public morality is appalling. The names of seemingly pious Muslims and fervent Christians feature regularly in public scandals and probes. One hears it said, therefore, that "Religion has failed us". Christians and Muslim religious leaders continue to insist that religion is valid and relevant; that its message is clear and its guidance secure, but it is rather Nigerians who have failed religion...Nevertheless, we all feel uneasy, and wish we could be more practically convincing as we profess our faith in the moral relevance of our respective religions".
All of us should have it at heart to listen to Pope John Paul II's message which he will deliver to Nigeria and the world.
END
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement