Repositioning the Nigerian State Through the Synthesis of Arts, Religion and Politics

Abstract

Fifty years after independence, Nigeria still confronts several basic problems of insecurity, underdevelopment, electoral malpractices, corruption and poverty, poor standard of education, infrastructure deficit, religious violence, bad leadership and connivance in followership. The thrust of this paper is to closely examine the role of arts, religion and politics in the country and establish the extent to which they can be deployed in repositioning Nigeria for development. Arts, religion and politics in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods were examined and it was discovered that there is a nexus binding arts, religion and politics especially in both the traditional and contemporary lives of the citizens. The paper also established the integration of religion and politics into Nigeria’s political space and demonstrated that both religion and politics have been used as instrumentations for positive and negative purposes. The paper concludes that good governance is the antidote to crises and it is the glue that binds arts, politics and religion. Therefore, the paper recommended the funding of arts by governments to promote nation building. With the recognition of religion as a great divisive factor in the Nigerian state, the paper also recommended jettisoning of religious considerations in the formulation and implementation of policies just as it urged religious leaders to maintain neutrality on the political space, among others.