Akwa Ibom and the age of ‘sacred authority’

Nigeria’s problem is multi-dimensional poverty caused by poor public administration. While individual Nigerians are earning well-deserved accolades worldwide for remarkable achievements in the fields of education, medicine, sports, entertainment and dare it be said fraud, non-Nigerians find it difficult to fathom why the nation cannot excel in good governance.   

Multidimensional poverty is a measurement of the percentage of households that are deprived of money, education, and basic infrastructure. Its definition captures the complexity of poverty and describes it as more than just a shortage of cash. Under such a correct broad definition, the vast majority of Nigerians live in poverty. The causes of this real, severe and widespread poverty are unemployment, corruption, non-diversification of the economy, income inequality, and a poor education system. Nowhere in any study of economics is religion defined as a cause or factor of poverty. Indeed, adherence to a particular religion cannot be a cause of poverty because most countries are now secular and multi-religious. It, therefore, stands to reason that government should focus on the task of solving socio-economic problems and leave matters of religion to adherents of that faith.  

Regrettably, Nigerian governors get involved in religion due to their narcissistic personalities. It is a well-known fact that narcissists rely heavily upon religion to profile themselves as self-appointed “spokespersons” of God. They memorise appropriate religious passages and quote them as if they are their own, having convinced themselves that they have a special connection to the almighty which is unique only to them! Psychiatrists assert that this is the cause of their delusions of grandeur. Despite sinning more than most, they exude a “holier than thou” attitude in the mistaken belief that memorising religious passages, and spending inordinate amounts of time and money in places of worship make them “godlier” than others.  

In spite of all their failings and inability to uplift the status of the impoverished majority, they have mastered the art of bending religious passages to suit their purpose. Religion gives them the opportunity to coerce citizens to abide by their wrongful actions, by controlling people and telling them what to think. Such governors greatly desire to be revered, but find it difficult because gaining reverence means carrying out good deeds to uplift the poor and underprivileged. Since their mindset cannot even conceptualise how to benefit others rather than themselves, they use religion to pretend to be godly people who must command respect.  

Governors are known to lie, cheat and commit all sorts of wrongdoing, but so long as they visit their places of worship once a week and pretend to be righteous upstanding citizens, they get away with it.  

Regrettably, the recently commissioned Akwa Ibom International Worship Centre constructed for about N32 billion in a state ravaged by hunger and underdevelopment represents a monumental wastage of public funds. It is simply an edifice to self-adoration. It is not the government’s responsibility to be directly involved in citizens’ religious lives. It is a pure misappropriation for public funds to be used to construct religious worship centres of any sort whether; mosques or churches. Such behaviour reflects reprehensible poverty of wisdom among Nigerian governors.  Akwa Ibom, similar to most states in Nigeria, suffers from multi-dimensional poverty, mass unemployment, prostitution, cultism, vandalism, and virtual political anarchy. The cost of constructing the edifice could well have paid the salaries of thousands of unemployed Akwa Ibom citizens for years. It could have paid for better schools, hospitals, roads and pensions.  

Religious scholars of all affiliations affirm that God does not reside in buildings, but in the hearts of men. It is not the building that matters, as God is present in open fields, hospitals, prisons, homes, and schools, etc. The Holy Bible does not say anybody needs to construct church buildings because the “church” itself consists of all believers who are called together through faith. The simple truth for Christians is that there is no place in the Holy Bible where God instructed anyone to raise a building called a “church”, rather Christ’s disciples were instructed to preach the gospel everywhere.  

It is because most people believe that religious people are good people that Nigerian governors use religion as a smokescreen to hide their wrongful behaviour. They have mastered the art of using religion to excuse bad behaviour and make their serious transgressions seem trivial. Even when they are called out for wrongdoing, they play on the fact that most religions encourage forgiveness, so they simply admit that they have “strayed from the path” then talk about regret, whereas the only thing they regret is the fact that they were caught! There is no doubt that Akwa Ibom has some of the best infrastructures in the nation, because despite most of the state’s citizens suffering multi-dimensional poverty, the state’s governors decided to construct hotels, holiday resorts and other infrastructures which do not impact upon citizens’ welfare. Religion as used by political leaders is antithetical to rational thinking. It weakens people’s capacity to think objectively, and question certain things while forcing them to believe in a supernatural power rather than humanity and rationality. The economic prosperity of a state is not a sign of God’s blessing; it is a sign of proper management of affairs.  Nigerian governance has lapsed into an era in which errant governors use religion to further their personal agendas referred to as “the age of sacred authority”.