Religious Fanaticism the Bane of National Development. True or False? -By Nnaemeka Johnson

I am always at variance with opinions citing faith as the bane to the decrepit or ramshackled state of the country. Where the real problems are, likely the decadence of societal values, norms and ideals.

Thomas Aquinas in his theological findings asserted that man in his frailty will naturally want to seek perfection beyond his physical natural environment to the realms of the supernatural. This is innate to mankind, because man is much more than matter in space.

My point, however, is that the matter of faith is as old as mankind, yet people in other climes have made huge successes in governance. Take for instance, the USA has the largest number of Christians in the world while in Africa Nigeria holds the highest. But in governance they are far apart, the difference is simply the presence or absence of national values and ideals. The same thing goes for Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.

Nigeria will experience fast and real national development if our ideals and values are systematically imbued with a sense of worth and patriotism as first being a Nigerian than anything else.

A failed state will by default give rise to religious merchants who are willing to sell their religious opium to numb the pain, frustration and complete hopelessness of her citizens. Religious fanatics are the products of a failing state like Nigeria.