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CHAPTER FIVE LESSONS FOR NIGERIA
In the previous chapters, there were attempts to discuss religious ideas of Max Weber and the progressive economic ethical values which if adhered to, will lead Nigeria from where it is to where it is supposed to be. There was also attempt to discuss the sordid state of affairs in Nigeria and the economic decay the nation finds herself. In this chapter, we are going to discuss the lessons Nigeria as a country will learn from Max Weber‘s ethics and principles of economic development.
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religious practice is a result of Nigerians‘ traditional belief in freedom of worship.
Abundant evidence affirms that religious belief affects a wide range of behavioral outcomes, and religious activity can affect economic performance at the level of the individual, group, or nation through at least two channels.
In Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argued that participation in religious sects could potentially convey two economic advantages to adherents (Anderson 1988). The first could be as a reputational signal: while the poor might look alike to potential employers, lenders, and customers, membership in a good sect could convey a reduction in risk associated with the particular individual and ultimately improve the efficient allocation of resources. Second, sects could also provide for extra-legal means of establishing trust and sanctioning miscreants in intra group transactions, again reducing uncertainty and improving efficiency, especially where civil remedies for failure to uphold contracts were weak (Barro, 1991).
Religion is one of the many factors impacting on the economic patterns of a society. The connection between religion and economy in Nigeria is manifest in the role of organized religion as an employer and as the owner of property and provider of social facilities, such as health care and education. Religious ideas contribute to social values and personal attitudes which motivate
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general forms of economic behaviour. Religion on occasion also stimulates consumption and therefore in a sense economic growth. Religion may also explicitly endorse certain economic or business activities. Religion strives to alleviate some of Nigeria's socioeconomic problems, providing medical and social services and raising funds for the needy. Moreover, the Churches in Nigeria are not afraid to challenge many of the social and economic evils of the day and to criticize the government and its policies. Apart from its positive impact, religion has also had disastrous effects on the Nigerian economy, in the form of religious disturbances and the violence which arose in the wake of the resurgence of the sharia question. Religion tends to respond to economic change and the rapid proliferation of religious institutions in Nigeria today is correlated in many respects with the development of new economic patterns.
On using religion to achieve sustainable socio-economic development in Nigeria, (Onimhawo and Ottuh, 2009) said that the relationship that exists between economic contracts and the religious patterns can alone constitute any basis for the continuous existence of a society. Each society follows certain values, among which are religious ideas and practices and these are not subject to logico-emperical proof or disproof. These partly furnish the motivation to action for the members of that society. However, if a religious
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system were found in which the individual merely manipulated the sacred forces for personal advantage, in a coolly shrewd and impersonal manner that general contention would have to be modified basically. In a society where agricultural production has been vastly improved where ever-normal granaries and rapid transportation virtually eliminate the threat of starvation, rain making becomes, not a matter of religio-magical ceremony, but of airplanes and silver iodide. Even in the societies that have achieved a great deal of technical efficiency, however, food production is sometimes threatened by drought. The welfare of a religion and the livelihood, if not the survival, or thousands of families may be endangered. Religious beliefs and practices may then return as marginal, if not basic, activities in connection with massive food production. The relationship between technology and religion is a complex one requiring attention of several qualifications. That is, some societies with fairly proficient connection with techniques of production nevertheless have developed an intricate connection between their technology and religion; some religious beliefs and practices which are clearly antithetical to efficient production, are devoutly defended anyway, because they are religiously right and many of the observances to assure productivity are more nearly magical than religious (Homola 1987).
Stressing further on the effect of religious ideas on economic development in
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Nigeria, Ambrose, N.( personal communication, 2016, July 27) he said among other things that religious tolerance remains a virtue which the adherents of various religions in Nigeria must adopt. He went on to say that the amount of resources the nation wastes in providing security, building and maintaining the internally displaced camps, construction and rehabilitation of damaged and destroyed structures, would have been channeled into agriculture, solid minerals and erection of industries that would have offered employment to our teeming unemployed youths. This will reduce the unemployment rate in Nigeria and earn foreign exchange for the country. It can also be used in road constructions and creating an enabling environment that will attract investors into the country.