ABSTRACT
Nigeria is a combination of ethnic groups with diverse history, culture, language and religion, a country with three dominant religions of ATR, Christianity and Islam. Religion cannot be practiced successfully without the teachings of its core ideas, principles, scriptural truths, etc to its adherents. This study is hinged on the fact that the three Religious traditions as practice in Nigeria has affected the way of lives of the people thus giving Nigeria a unique religious identity, as the foreign religion (Christianity and Islam) penetrate into Nigeria with many adherents professing it, they have been an enculturation as religion cannot thrive in any locality or community without the culture of the people and that of the religion mixing. Every religion is borne out of a culture of the people. The study revealed that Religious culture and Tradition laid the foundation of Educational development in Nigeria viz-a-viz the establishment of Mission Schools and the development of Nigerian Indigenous Language.
Keywords: Religion, Culture, Educational Development.
INTRODUCTION
In a religious pluralistic society like Nigeria with diverse history, culture, language and religion, a country with three dominant religion of ATR, Christianity and Islam, each admonishing its adherents to live a good life according to its dictates which will grant them prosperous life here (on earth) and hereafter, volumes upon volumes of articles have been written on the topic Religion, with many criticizing Religion that it ought to do more while some would praise religion that it has done a lot.
Religion cannot be practiced successfully without the passage of its core ideas, principles, scriptural truths, and so on to its adherents. This can only be done through inculcation of those scriptural or sacred truths of the religion to its adherent. Thus, making education an inseparable tool in the hand of Religion for dissemination of Scriptural truths, ideas and principles to its adherents.
Education, in the words of Adeyemi & Adeyinka is the ‘process of cultural transmission and renewal, the process whereby the adult member of a society carefully guides the development of infants and young children, initiating them into the culture of the society'. (Adeyemi & Adeyinka, 2002). Education has to do with the transmission or inculcation of ideas from the informed/enlightened one to an individual who is less knowledgeable in the subject matter in order to leave the person better informed at the end of the day.
The task of this work is to look at the contributions of religious traditions and culture to the Nigeria’s educational development taking into consideration, the three dominant religions in Nigeria. Attempts will be made to X-ray the three religion concepts of education and from there deduce its impact and contributions to national development.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS
Religion Defined
In the words of Metuh, “Religion is a very elusive concept to define. This is partly because the object of religion for the most part is invisible and immaterial beings who are not subject to observation and are conceived in different ways by different people. Besides the study of religion interest people such as theologians, anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists, in which each of them sees it from different perspective”. (Metuh, 1987)
The above statement by Metuh points to the fact that there is no generally acceptable definition of religion but for the purpose of this work, we will go with the definition of Madu 2006, who assert that “Religion means man’s recognition of the existence of a power or powers beyond himself, who as it were created the universe, sustains, preserves and provides for this universe”. (Madu, 2006)
Education
The word ‘education' from diverse dictionaries and perspectives has been accepted to be “the act or process of acquiring knowledge, especially systematically during childhood and adolescence; the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge and of developing the power of reasoning and judgment; the act or process of impacting or acquiring general knowledge of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life”. (Colins, 2003)
Educational development
Educational development in Nigeria has traditionally focused on studies carried out in the cities. Statistics available on educational development are mainly on enrolment in schools in the urban centers. A substantial literature focuses on the nature of educational provisions in the urban towns in the country. It is easy to talk of the number of primary and secondary schools in towns like Yenegoa, Calabar, Benin city, Kaduna and Kano, to mention but a few. Such statistics are hardly available about educational development in the rural areas. In contrast to the traditional approach of using the provided educational statistics about schools located in the urban centers in Nigeria to generalize for the urban and rural areas, whose figures are never really available, there has arisen therefore the need for a broader conceptualization of educational development in Nigeria to incorporate the much neglected rural areas. This, too, has necessitated the prescription of multilevel analysis and micro approach as more comprehensive models of research that can integrate insights gleaned from macro approaches to the educational development in Nigeria (Bray and Thomas, 1995). Consequently, there is a growing awareness of the importance of having an understanding of the differences within territories, since only an analysis of these differences will allow for an understanding of the inequalities in educational development between the urban towns and the rural areas, which do not show up in national statistics and analysis.
National Development
National development is a concept with definitional pluralism. Several scholars have attempted defining the concept of development from different perspectives. Nevertheless, the perspective of Gboyega (2003) is indispensable in this discourse. According to him, national development is an idea that embodies all attempts to improve the conditions of human existence in all ramifications. It implies improvement in material well-being of all citizens, in a sustainable way such that today’s consumption does not imperil the future, it also demands that poverty and inequality of access to the good things of life be removed or drastically reduced. It seeks to improve personal physical security and livelihoods and expansion of life chances.
The beliefs and practices that one uses to struggle with the ultimate problems of human life is what Yinger (1970) refers to as religion. These struggles are geared towards making life better for the individual which in turn will result in national development. Therefore, religious beliefs and practices are obeyed because the adherents believe that their sustainable development is dependent on obedience to religious creeds. It is the process of reconstruction and development in various dimensions of a nation and development of individuals. It includes full growth and expansion of industries, agriculture, education, social, religious and cultural institutions. According to Vaizey, “national development is the total effect of all citizens’ forces and addition to the stock of physical human resources, knowledge and skill”. (Vaizey, 2012)
Culture
Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities and habits of the individuals in these groups. As observed by Tylor (1974) “it is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. (Tylor,1974)
