Religion and Nation Building in Nigeria: A Critique (Published)
From its etymological definition, religion connotes relationship, bond and reverence. Ipso facto, it ought to be fundamental and a veritable tool for nation building, if nation building implies a systematic process of making a people with cultural and ethnic differences become integrated as one and feel belonged under one nation. Unfortunately, religion as it is practiced in Nigeria by the adherents of the dominant religions: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion, rather than integrate the peoples of Nigeria, turns out to be one of the major causes of conflict and division among Nigerians. What is the reason behind this paradox? The philosophical method of critical analysis is employed to dissect the historical cause of this in view of finding lasting solutions. On this, the nature and mode of propagation of these faiths in Nigeria is identified as the major cause of the seed of division witnessed among these religions. If only the government and the religious leaders would liaise to educate the populace on the need for religious tolerance and freedom of worship, religion would have assumed its natural role of bridge building among the peoples of Nigeria.
Citation: Igbokwe A.C. (2022) Religion and Nation Building in Nigeria: A Critique, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.11, pp.37-46
Keywords: Nation Building, Nigeria, Religion.
Religion and Nation Building in Nigeria: A Critique (Published)
From its etymological definition, religion connotes relationship, bond and reverence. Ipso facto, it ought to be fundamental and a veritable tool for nation building, if nation building implies a systematic process of making a people with cultural and ethnic differences become integrated as one and feel belonged under one nation. Unfortunately, religion as it is practiced in Nigeria by the adherents of the dominant religions: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion, rather than integrate the peoples of Nigeria, turns out to be one of the major causes of conflict and division among Nigerians. What is the reason behind this paradox? The philosophical method of critical analysis is employed to dissect the historical cause of this in view of finding lasting solutions. On this, the nature and mode of propagation of these faiths in Nigeria is identified as the major cause of the seed of division witnessed among these religions. If only the government and the religious leaders would liaise to educate the populace on the need for religious tolerance and freedom of worship, religion would have assumed its natural role of bridge building among the peoples of Nigeria.
Citation: Igbokwe A.C. (2022) Religion and Nation Building in Nigeria: A Critique, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.11, pp.37-46
Keywords: Nation Building, Nigeria, Religion.
Prevalence of Rape in Ekiti State Nigeria: Expectations from the Church (Published)
The article investigates the prevalence of rape and sexual assaults in Ekiti State, Nigeria. It reviews some pieces of literature on rape from scholarly perspectives; rape in the bible and its effects were equally investigated. The causes and effects of rape were emphasized in work. The article examined expectations from the church being the moral bastion of society. It is a concern that rape has become cancer that has eaten deep into our contemporary society. There have been reported cases of rape in Ekiti state, which calls for this article. It is no doubt that some men have thrown morals into the bin and defiled women of all ages, but children are not left behind in this contemporary madness. Some men have slept with children far below their children’s ages. The research shows that rape is not exclusive to the state under study; allegations of rape and molestation have come from different states in Nigeria using qualitative and interview approaches. The paper equally gives information on reported and cases of convicted culprits of rape in the state. Likewise, efforts of the State Government and the church to forestall rape were revealed in this work. Nevertheless, it was observed that despite the efforts of Ekiti State in curtailing rape in the state, it is still prevalent. However, this is due to the number of new cases reported daily. Consequently, the call for church intervention as the moral bastion of society to forestall rape is imperative at this juncture. It has been discovered in the work that cases of rape are underreported due to the stigma and shame associated with it. Ekiti state, just like every other state in Nigeria, is a patriarch in nature. Hence, men are always at an advantage in nearly everything. Therefore, the paper recommends that the church intensify efforts to enlighten society through radio, television evangelism, counselling, preaching and workshop on the danger of rape. Finally, rape victims should be given the moral and medical support needed for their healing from the physical, emotional and psychological traumas associated with rape.
Keywords: Church, Ekiti State, Expectations, Nigeria, Prevalence, Rape
Addressing Police brutality as a form of Human Right Abuse in Nigeria: A study of government efforts (Published)
Police brutality have attracted the attention of researchers and human right stakeholders, into the causes of brutality and dimensions of manifestation. In Nigeria, as in many other countries of the world, police brutality has gone as far as taking lives, and casting a shadow of doubt on the professed responsibility of the government in protecting her citizens. In Nigeria, a case at hand is the EndSARS saga which is a consequent action of the youth to end police brutality, yet leading into more brutality and massacre. This study therefore, in addition to knowledge have explored the efforts of the government in addressing police brutality in Nigeria. The study’s objectives were to ascertain the relationship between police daily routine and human right abuse in Nigeria; to assess the effects of police brutality on its victim in Nigeria; to evaluate the accountability of government in proposed measures in addressing police brutality in Nigeria; and to score the effectiveness of the measures employed by the government in addressing police brutality in Nigeria. Concentrating the study in Owerri, Imo State with a total population of 945,046 in 2022. The study draws a sample of 381 respondents who supplied data through a 20-item questionnaire. The collected data were subjected to descriptive analysis using percentages, standard deviation and mean scores. The study’s finding shows that there is a significant relationship between police daily routine and human rights abuse; there is significant effect of police brutality on the victims; the government have not been accountable to their proposed measures for addressing police brutality; and those proposed measures are therefore not effective in addressing police brutality in Nigeria. Therefore, the study recommended that government should first revamp the economy to increase standard of living of its citizens, make policies with interest in solving problems and not pleasing the public, and train and retrain the police officers especially on the UN Principle on the use of force and firearms. police brutality, human right abuse, Nigeria, government efforts
Keywords: Nigeria, government efforts, human right abuse, police brutality
Income Inequality, Health Care Expenditure and Economic Performance in Nigeria (Published)
This paper examined the impact of income inequality and healthcare expenditure on economic performance in Nigeria over the period 1990-2020 using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation technique. The findings reveal the existence of a positive and a statistically significant relationship between income inequality and economic performance as well as health care expenditure and economic performance in Nigeria. In addition, the results show that health care is a necessity rather than a luxury in Nigeria. The study recommends that government should implement programs and policies that will alleviate the inequality in income distribution as well as appropriate policies at the macroeconomic level targeted at public health expenditure to enhance economic performance
Keywords: ARDL, Economic Performance, Health Care Expenditure, Income Inequality, Nigeria
Utilitarian Value of Ground Nut Among the Nupe Women of North Central Nigeria (Published)
Agriculture and manufacturing activities is as old as production of goods and services in African society. In the production of goods and services women formed a sizeable population of the labour force. This has not been an exception in Nupe land. The friendly nature of ecology of Nupe land made it possible for production of ground nut in large quantity that allowed for its utilization in different forms most especially by the women. Thus the plants, the nuts and the shell are used by women in different forms. It is on this premise that the study examined production, utilisation, marketing and consumption of groundnut among Nupe women. The study uses historical research methodology of oral interaction, reconnaissance survey and unpublished and published materials in collection of data and analyses. The study revealed that Nupe women played supportive role in cultivation through planting, harvesting, and separation of pod from plants to processing into different bye products and marketing.
Keywords: Nigeria, Utilitarian Value, ground nut, north Central, nupe women
Tax Revenue and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: A Disaggregated Analysis. (Published)
Lately, Nigerians are in confusion on the rationale of paying tax due to the inability of the government to let taxpayers feel the impact of paying tax. These unethical practices have made some Nigerians want to evade tax wholly or partially. All and sundry still limbo in doubt as to whether the tax could ever be flexible or efficient; and if yes, can they deliver the sustainable growth that has eluded Nigeria for decades. This study investigates the impact of tax components in achieving sustainable growth in Nigeria using time series data from 1987-2019 using the ARDL bound testing approach to cointegration to ascertain the long run and the speed of adjustment (Short run) in analyzing the relationship. The result revealed that Petroleum Profit Tax, Company Tax, Value Added Tax and Personal Income Tax have a positive short-run relationship with economic growth (GDP) while Custom and Excise Duties and Personal Income Tax exhibits a negative relationship in the short and long run. This study hereby recommends strong institutional reforms in the department of customs to plug the manifest leakages in other to enable the revenue generated from the unit to reach the desired point to facilitate sustainable development in Nigeria by the year 2030.
Citation: Adewale Mathew Adekanmbi, Amos Dauda, Shallie and Oladimeji Abeeb Olaniyi (2022) Tax Revenue and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: A Disaggregated Analysis, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.3, pp.43-54
Keywords: Nigeria, Sustainable Development, Tax components
The Nexus between Financial Development, Trade Performance and Growth in Nigeria (Published)
The study investigates the nexus between financial development, trade performance and growth in Nigeria between the period 1985 to 2020. Financial development, government expenditure, inflation rate and trade openness were used as dimensions of independent variables while real gross domestic product was used as the dependent variable. Annual time series data on our targeted variables were obtained from secondary sources including the Central Bank of Nigeria annual statistical bulletin, World Bank development indicators. The Eview9 Statistical Software was employed to analyze the data empirically. The Unit root test shows that financial development, government expenditure, trade openness and real gross domestic product are all stationary after first difference I(1) while inflation rate was stationary at level I(0). The data were analyzed using the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL). The results of the ARDL estimates indicate that in the long run financial development and government expenditure coefficients have positive relationships with real gross domestic product and they are also statistically significant. The study recommends amongst others that Nigerian trade performance should be improved through economic diversification so as to reduce much emphasis on oil export and availability of funds from private sector at competitive interest rate in order to produce internationally competitive products should be encouraged. Also, there should be the implementation of monetary policies that would bring about stability in exchange rate, promote trade openness and ensure government purchases that enhances financial development.
Citation: Adeyemo, Oyindamola Olajumoke and Tamunowariye, Chinonso (2022) The Nexus between Financial Development, Trade Performance and Growth in Nigeria, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.3, pp.1-17
Keywords: Nigeria, economic growth, financial development; trade performance
Abraham the Father of Faith (Gen 12-17) – Challenge To Christians in Nigeria (Published)
Citation: Emmanuel U. Dim (2022) Abraham the Father of Faith (Gen 12-17) – Challenge To Christians in Nigeria, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.1, pp.54-63
In Abraham, Israel’s first Patriarch, God begins a new development in his plan of the creation and salvation of the world by specially choosing the people of Israel (Gen 12-50), after the general account of the creation and development of mankind from the beginning of the book of Genesis (Gen 1-11). Abraham stands out in his relationship with God and is thus, for those who believe in God and who acknowledge His self-revelation in the OT, the father of faith. Many Christians in Nigeria today suffer from the crisis of faith which often breeds lukewarmness and syncretism in their actual practice of it – and even outright rejection of the same faith in neo-paganism. The others who try to remain steadfast, are naturally distracted by the negative activities of these other brothers and sisters with whom they are supposed to be professing the same faith. This paper presents the steadfast legacy in the faith of Abraham, the proto-type of Jesus in the OT, as an enlivening challenge to all Christians, especially here in Nigeria. Abraham’s steadfast faith in God, in all the circumstances of his life, challenges the Nigerian Christians of today, as they face all sorts of difficulties in the practice of their faith. It also challenges the institutionalized Churches towards the provision of a sustained catechetical growth for all their members for a more active and vibrant Christian life in our dear country that is today menaced with many religious, social, economic and political problems. To arrive at its goal, this paper employs the exegetico-analytical method of enquiry. In the final analysis, apart from the pertinence of all the points raised in it, this work has the added importance of taking us to the very fertile roots of our faith in God in the person and life of Abraham, thereby helping to engender stronger conviction in the believing audience that would read it.
Keywords: Abraham, Christians, Faith, Nigeria, father
Financial Globalization and Exchange Rate uncertainty in Nigeria: A Band-Pass Filter Approach (Published)
Exchange rate uncertainty has been one of the many challenges implicated as the biggest developmental and growth obstacle facing Nigeria as a nation. This study estimates financial globalization, output growth and financial uncertainty nexus in Nigeria. The research is carried under the assumption that exchange rate uncertainties are deemed to impact on the volume of export and import trading activities. Thus, we adopted the Pairwise Granger Causality model to estimate the causality relationships among financial globalization, output growth and volatility in exchange rate using a Single Equation Englo-Granger approach. The best lag selection criteria were employed to choosing the best lag for this analysis. We provide a link between the short-run and the long-run effect of the model(s). This study found that they is a positive interaction between financial volatility (exchange rate uncertainty) and output volatility in Nigeria. It shows that as financial volatility such as exchange rate uncertainty is increasing, output volatility will also be increased in the same direction. The government and the monetary authorities should be more focused on the strengthening the exchange rate, since stable exchange rate improves the terms of trade, strengthen the local capacity and increases output growth. However, addressing the heightened risks, including financial and operational risks due to economic recession as well as due to the market reforms themselves have remained the challenges of globalization in Nigeria.
Keywords: Exchange Rate, Nigeria, band-pass filter approach, financial globalization