The impact of religion on a secular state: the Nigerian experience

Abstract

Nigeria, in her 55 years of nationhood, is the most populated black nation in the world. She has to her credit a written Constitution being operated for the effective democratic governance of her population, comprising peoples of different religious freedom and cultural backgrounds. In Nigeria, Christianity, Islam and traditional religions are most widely practised. Religion is a faith-based process that is capable of impacting on governance and the behavioural attitudes of every believer. Nigeria is a secular state. Since interaction theory provides avenues for exchanges of nonmaterial goods and materials, we used this theory as the most appropriate in the conduct of this study. This article explores the impact of religion on Nigerians living within a secular state.