FAITH AND BELONGING: RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND THE CRISIS OF CITIZENSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA
Keywords:
religious identity, citizenship, inclusion, Nigeria, social identityAbstract
Nigeria’s religious landscape remains a central axis of social identity and political life, intersecting with ethnicity, region, and party politics to shape who is recognised as a full member of the nation. Despite formal claims to secularism, citizenship is often mediated through faith, leading to unequal access to rights, protection, and public goods. While previous scholarship attributes these disparities to class inequality, weak state capacity, corruption, or federalism, such explanations do not fully account for the divergent experiences of similarly marginalised populations across religious lines. This study argues that religious identity functions as a primary boundary of belonging, influencing political trust, communal solidarity, and access to state resources. Employing social identity theory and a citizenship-as-practice framework, the research adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining national datasets, regional case studies, interviews, observations, and policy analysis to compare the influence of religion with other socio-political factors. Focusing on 2018–2025, it examines a conflict-affected Middle Belt state and a southern state marked by religion–state tensions. Findings reveal that religious affiliation consistently shapes access to documentation, protection, political representation, and social recognition, even where class, governance, and institutional capacity are comparable. The study concludes that religion is a decisive determinant of substantive citizenship in Nigeria and recommends inclusive policies that protect minority faiths, promote equitable access to state services, and strengthen interfaith collaboration to foster social cohesion and civic equality.
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