Original Research

The role of the Church in the quest for political restructuring in Nigeria

Ugochukwu O. Ezewudo, Prince E. Peters
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 78, No 1 | a7254 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i1.7254 | © 2022 Ugochukwu O. Ezewudo, Prince E. Peters | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 26 November 2021 | Published: 27 June 2022

About the author(s)

Ugochukwu O. Ezewudo, Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria; Department of New Testament and Related Literature, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Prince E. Peters, Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria; Department of New Testament and Related Literature, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

The present political structure of Nigeria has proved unfavourable to Nigerians. This has led to catastrophic situations in Nigeria. This article evaluates the role of the Church in the fight to curb these catastrophes in the form of rising spates of insecurity, corruption, separatist agitation and marginalisation. These challenges have led to serious underdevelopment, poverty and unemployment, mostly in South-East Nigeria. Nigeria’s inefficiency as a nation stems from a long history of poor leadership from the time of colonial rule until today, partly because of the unbalanced political structure in the country. The history of poor leadership has denied Nigerians the opportunity of achieving a new Nigeria like other countries of the world. The study uses a descriptive historical approach to investigate this challenging situation. As a result of the lack of true federalism demonstrated in the lack of a proper political structure in the country, the study advocated for restructuring the country’s political structure to meet the immediate and long-term needs of all, especially in South-East Nigeria.

Contribution: Many Nigerian scholars have researched on the need to restructure Nigerian polity, but there is a paucity of literature on the role of the Church to achieve this, leading to a dire want of research materials in this regard. This research, therefore, contributes its quota to the search for the lingering problems of Nigeria as a nation.


Keywords

church; politics; restructuring; marginalisation; Nigeria

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