Rethinking Religious Ethnonationalism and Fundamentalism in Nigeria - Prospects for Cultivating National Identity, Weltanschauung and Values in a Global Age

Abstract

Cultural and religious identity crisis has become the bedrock of the Nigerian problem since her Independence in 1960. Over the years, religious clashes have occurred among Nigerians who began to see themselves as Muslims, Traditionalists, and Christians, and no longer in their ethnic or tribal identity. Today in Nigeria, there are abundant cases of religio-ethno clashes which have degenerated to eradication of national values and the Nigerian identity. Beyond eradication of national values and identity, there are socio-economic factors like bad leadership and poverty which has aggravated religious fundamentalism in Nigeria. The problem of this study therefore lies in a gradual erosion and death of core national values like patriotism, hard work, creativity and solidarity amongst Nigerians on account of escalated ethnic and religious clashes across the states of the federation. Insisting that value synthesis is an important aspect of the flexibility and dynamics of a renewed Nigerian identity, this paper highlights the concept of cultural synthesis in the discourses on Nigerian Identity and explores the various interpretations of religious fundamentalism in Nigeria. Consequently, it argues that religious fundamentalism now acts as a neo-colonial tool to suppress the authentic identities of Nigerians and impose new identities on them. The paper concludes that a revival of the questions of values and national identity amongst Nigerians will promote a shared psycho-social framework to boost communal worldview. It is this new worldview (weltanshauung) that will foster civic consciousness, sanctity of human lives, peaceful cohabitation and neutral platforms for value construction in them.