Religion and culture as agents of change for sustainable development in Nigeria

Abstract

Religion and Culture permeates the life of every human being as well as every society throughout the world. Every religion and culture has norms, values  and acceptable standards reflected in its doctrines and ways of life. By inculcating in adherents and members of the society these norms and values,  religion and culture are expected to act as agents for sustainable development in Nigeria. In-spite of this, Nigeria is facing problems of under development that are evidenced in the educational sector, social, political and economic deterioration. This paper therefore seeks to discover the  reason for the lack of development and look at the various roles religion and culture can play in the sustainable development of Nigeria. The paper adopted phenomenological approach and discovered that, vices like corruption and materialism contributes largely to this underdevelopment and that  religion and culture can play cardinal roles in growth of our society for sustainable development. The paper recommends that Religious leaders, Traditional rulers, Custodians of morality and Government at all levels should not isolate religion and culture to the background since the two could be  found in every strata of the society.