RE-INVENTING NIGERIA THROUGH RELIGIOUS COOPERATION

Christianity and Islam behave as if they are in two opposing political parties, yet their conducts in the various spheres of life do not present them as people who are good ambassadors of their faith!

Religion  is a means of contacting the spiritual world through the modes of beliefs and practices people have faith in. It necessitates application of faith in the course of obedience  to the set creeds and precepts. Human beings in their billions all over the world have thousands of religions, The veracity of the power of each religion and modes of worship can only be ascertained by its adherents. Most religions have prescriptions as well as proscriptions. Note worthy however  is the rudimentary codes that are set out in their laws. However it is important to note the roles cultures play in each religion.
while most religions of the world are organic to the environment where they are practised,  most other parts of the world like Africa, Europe and the Americas have religions foisted on them.  For instance, Islam and Christianity which originated from the Middle East are largely embraced by these countries. After their imposition by pre-colonialists and colonialists,  their large acceptance implies that the original religion  of beliefs in Idols worship,  ancestor worship and animism are inferior or largely insufficient and incapable of addressing the problems confronting them.
It is unfortunate that the adherents of these two religions : Christianity and Islam behave as if they are in two opposing political parties, yet their conducts in the various spheres of life do not present them as people who are good ambassadors of their faith! this is the reason why traditional worshippers condemn them for being largely insufficient at solving the various problems besetting the society.
most surprising is the fact that the two so called imported religions, Christianity and Islam engage each other in hegemonic strife. This ends up creating greater problems than these religions set out to solve in the first place.  This, most of the time attempts to rubbish and obliterate the goodness in the practices of the two religions.  In other climes, they remain  noble.
It is high time we began to cultivate the benefits inherent in the two religions in other to accentuate and accelerate social,  political, economic and physical development.
Nigeria, a country  blessed with diverse religions has the potentials of exploiting the virtues and resources in each religion and galvanize them for solving the myriads of problems that we feel are intractable.
At present, both Christians and Muslims faithfuls are observing their yearly Lenten 40days fasting and 30 days Ramadan fasting.  The coincidence of these two notable events in the months of March and April is quite note worthy.  It should  be a rennaisance for all well wishers who want good thing to bud out of Nigeria.  The government is though secular, a reason that could shield the reason for the importance of this once in two decades’ coincidence. As usual, the respective spiritual leaders in the two religions are myopic and selfish to make clarion calls for joint prayer points if joint prayer sessions are unachievable. whereas what divides us as a country supposed to unite us. In the glorious past decades, especially in pre-independence Nigeria,  a good number of our present day political leaders and actors, military leaders and religious, cum spiritual leaders attended primary and secondary schools different from the family faiths.  some of them got converted while the rest re-embraced their faiths. Most of the Christians who attended Muslims schools still speak in glowing terms about their recitations of Islamic prayers at morning devotions.  On a good note, they recall the high level of discipline and scholarship in their alma-mater. Same goes for the Muslims who apart from singing church songs with penchant for the choruses. They never can speak ill of the secondary schools where with diligence,  dexterity and discipline they cut their academic teeth.
How underdeveloped are countries where Christianity and Islam hail from?  Saudi Arabia  an Islamic kingdom is a good sight to behold. From tell tales by pilgrims apart from television screens ,social welfare and physical development in this kingdom has reached an irreversible dimension. Most surrounding nations like UAE, Bahrain, Qatar etc, have succeeded in turning their capitals to El-dorado. Britain, France and Germany to mention a few in the Christian world,  are at a point of re-inventing huge shrubs and forests because advanced technology at its highest peak is taking a toll on both their well being and the world at large.
why are they developed this much?  Respect for the extant laws of the land! Most of these countries have nearly a hundred (100%)percent obedience and deference to the prevailing laws of the land.  From the basic payment of taxation to the observation of traffic laws, the countries remain sane and at peace. How many people  obey  the laws in Nigeria?  In fact we have more laws than some of these countries and we find it difficult  to obey any!  Rape and murder, the two crimes that command the highest  penalty apart from treason are on the rise right now.  You can imagine  how frivolously everyone disobeys simple laws with impunity.  Everybody knows somebody everywhere to help them in case they run fowl of the law.  Apart from this, the architecture of the Nigerian correctional centres through out the country as maintained by those in power shows it is designed for the poorest of the poorest who have nobody to run to in time of crises. This is why I took it upon myself and the church since the inception of our ministry to take relief materials like, mattresses, toiletries, drugs etc, to cushion the effect of the hardship so that they won’t be harder than they went on their return back to the society.
Simple cooperation between the religious leaders is enough to help safeguard the country from some of the menace troubling her.  why can’t we first sit down, sift from both Christians and Islamic jurisprudence and see which one will assuage the feelings of the citizens from nepotism,  corruption, rejection, oppression, etc?. will the Christians say there is nothing good they can gain from Islamic  jurisprudence?  The Muslim as well acknowledge some goodness that lie in common  laws.  Bitterness, jealousy and suspicion that rove in our midst are as a result of the unseasoned sermons  and prayer points we have been fed with in our respective churches and mosques.  It is not surprising that some of these preachers though claim they are called to do the work, yet preach like they are acting for Satan! Anyway, It is just a last hope job when they find it hard to secure gainful secular employment.
I hope some of them will not force government to regularise the content of their baleful sermons that smack of hate speech and prayers against enemies at all times instead of telling their followers to strive hard to please their creator and obey every law made by the governing  authority  for peaceable and prosperous  society.  How many Christian  and Islamic people  who are civil  servants, politicians,  professionals etc abhor  graft extra marital affairs,  charity, jealousy corruption, embezzlement etc in their working  places?  It seems these vices  are the only things that unite Nigerians apart from football  games.  We can do better when we jointly  embrace pious  livelihood that elevate excellence performance, kindness, love, peace, generosity, honesty, truthfulness, gentleness  etc.  everywhere we find ourselves no matter the creed or religion.