Christianity: In Nigeria, God and pastors are more important than any politician

In a society where basic amenities are lacking, pastors provide much needed hope, in wholesale and retail.

To say that nothing works in Nigeria except the name of God would appear to be overkill, an exaggeration of sorts. But in a nation where basic amenities and infrastructure are heavily lacking, it is pastors who are filling the important role vacated by the nation’s leaders and politicians.

Nigeria’s politicians do not enjoy the best reputation among their people.

Decades of misrule, corruption and power struggles have created a hyper-rich elite and left the masses neglected, in a country where more than half of the population lives on less than a dollar a day and the gap between the rich and the poor is one of the widest in the world.

Desperate for answers, the people have found hope in faith and in pastors who oversee congregations of millions of followers.

 

Some of these pastors are internationally renowned, with branches of their ministries in countries around the world.

ALSO READ: Pastor Adeyemi and Tunde Bakare are the only two Nigerian pastors who agree that tithing has expired

Others are new generational ministers, who are delivering this message in a social media age to an audience more in tune with the world than ever before.

Regardless of the variety, these churches sell one thing that politicians seem so eager to drain Nigerians of; hope.

One of such churches is the Elevation Church.

Selling Hope

Speaking with the BBC, its General Overseer, Godman Akinlabi says, “The real undertone of the economy of the church is, how do we distribute hope, wholesale and retail”.

The success of this approach is there to see. Across Nigeria, churches are nearly everywhere with a small population of residents. Some of these are mega-structures; others are average-sized edifices and others, yet, make-shift buildings with only a few members.

The influence of Nigerian Christianity and its pastors took root in the 70s when a chain of events meant power was exchanged at intervals by cabals of military officers and the quality of living dropped immensely.

 

“The Pentecostal movement in Nigeria started in the 70s and it was a time when Nigeria really needed help. So the Pentecostal movement moved into schools, universities, colleges, high schools through the Scripture Union and many other movements that came then”, Akinlabi says to the BBC.

ALSO READ: How Nigeria's Pentecostal ministers became more powerful than the President

The brutal, suffocating Abacha years, between 1993 and 1998, raised the stakes higher.

As the quality of life worsened and freedom became a myth, more Nigerians turned to God, and the churches for hope and a permanent solution to the dictatorship.

By the last years of his rule, Abacha’s death was the subject of much prayer and supplication.

“Given the terrible state of the country under Abacha, it is not surprising that during that time, Nigerians found God in a major way”, says Jide Olanrewaju, in his definitive documentary on the history of Nigeria.

“Even more significant is the disenchantment of the populace with the socioeconomic situation,“ says an excerpt from “Nigeria During the Abacha Years (1993–1998)”, a journal by Kunle Amuwo, Daniel C. Bach and Yann Lebeau.

“…, the seeming duplicity or complacency of the clergy of the two established religions have created a process of popular religious revivalism. Christian Pentecostals and Muslim fundamentalist and reformist groups have proliferated”, it reads.

Save Nigeria and other spiritual stories

Tele-evangelism, an astute use of media channels and rapid growth plans spurred the growth of the churches into the phenomenon that they are now.

Nigeria’s pastors are some of the most influential people in the country.

Pastors, like the RCCG’s E.A Adeboye, are adored by millions across thousands of church branches in Nigeria and across countries in Africa, Europe, North America and Asia.

 

What they offer is a panacea for their lack of opportunity; an important glimmer of hope in a nation where suffering is rife in the middle of Africa’s largest economy.

The extent of their reach is not lost on the political class, either. Politicians, perhaps looking to leverage their influence, often visit pastors for their blessings ahead of elections.

The extent of their following and the loyalty that they enjoy is somewhat ironic, considering the fact that Nigeria’s pastors are also some of the wealthiest people in the country.

According to Forbes, of the 10 Wealthiest Pastors in the world, 5 are Nigerian.

The personal wealth that these ministers amass is in stark contrast to the hope and faithful expectation that they peddle.

 

Already, there are movements, like #FreeTheSheeple, Freeze’s online activism, which aim to highlight the discrepancies in the activities and tenets preached by these ministers.

These movements draw attention to the gulf in the pastors’ personal wealth and the millions of poor who are the core of their congregations.

Nigerian pastors do have questions to answer, and it is an obvious truth that a collective effort to correct social ills, improve general ethics and address the nation’s poor leadership would do a lot more good than chasing hope in Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday services.

But considering the fact that they have learned to expect as little from their leaders as is humanly possible, it should surprise no one that Nigerians are putting their pastors before politicians