7. Summary
2.2 The Cultures and Possible Worldviews within Nigeria
Nigeria is a large country with many people and cultural variations. In official government analyses about 250 ethnicities are recognized, however, many more ethnicities can be identified. About 35 cultural groupings have been identified according to Google cultural map submission on Nigeria. And, for the sake of this research, I would like to limit myself to the rough religious charting I have made of the country; in so doing, I intend to further develop the assumption that the spiritual mind frame of a people is predicated on the environment in which they live and that their surroundings determine their worldview. The researcher has, therefore, sub-divided the country into five regions: the North, Middle-Belt, West, East and South as can be seen in the „Cultural Map of Nigeria‟ above on page xviii.
This rationalization is purely the author‟s assumption and is intended to facilitate understanding of the arguments in this thesis only, and does not represent the official governmental divisions within the country Nigeria. It should also be noted here that Nigeria has six official geo-political zones: the North-East, North-West, North-Central, South- East, South-West and South-South.
Zacchaeus A. Mathema quoting John Fowler defines the term worldview as,
A construct about the make-up of life as it struggles with the question of reality, truth, ethics and history. It is a construct that provides a point of departure, a sense of direction, a locus of destination and strategy of unity for human thought, life and action.75
75 Mathema, Z. A., “The African Worldview,” https://www.ministrymagazine.org/achieve/.../ Accessed 15th
Commenting on Kraft, Mathema established that,
At the core of every person‟s being lies the worldview that constitutes “control box”
of culture that determines thinking, acting or doing, and determining values.
Worldview, therefore, exerts a strong, shaping influence and power on a person‟s life.76
Mathema argued further that “worldview exists at the foundational level of culture and at the core of the same cultural expressions and permeates everything that a people think and do by defining reality, truth and values.”77
Nigerians fit into the definitions above as they share certain common elements that are determinants to their worldviews, especially belief in spirits, but they also have certain departures in their worldviews that can easily be explored to their varied backgrounds and their locations within the country. These are defined in detail here below.
a. North: The North of Nigeria is pre-dominantly Muslim with a strong traditional religious presence and a fair Christian representation that is strongly resisted. The features of the land are Sahelian mixed with savannah grassland with medium sized rivers and streams that dry up during the dry seasons. There are scattered mountains and highlands with rough bushes. The few ethnic groups living in this part of the country are the Kanuri of the ancient Kanem Kingdom that are deep- rooted in Islam but very fetish, the Hausa tribes basically traditional religionists and also very fetish, the partially Islamized Fulani, the ruling people of most of the north and the Shuwa Arabs that are scattered along the frontiers with Nigeria‟s Northern neighbours. All these have a world-view influenced by their environment and cultural trappings which have to a certain degree been arabized in language and thought. They have strong belief in Ginnis and amulets or talis- man as a source of power.
b. The Middle-Belt: This is where Adamawa is located to the east of the country. It is pre-dominantly Christian with a strong African traditional religion base and a fair Islamic representation. There is strong fetishism and belief in ancestral spirits as well as witches and totems among the people of this zone in Nigeria. The belief in Mami-Water and blood-thirsty spirits is somewhat foreign to the people here because they are a plains people who live in a mountainous land with strong vegetation, well watered by swift wide rivers and streams. There are many lakes
May 2013.
76 Mathema, “The African Worldview,” 2013.
77 Mathema, “The African Worldview,” 2013.
in this region. The people as described in 2.3.2 above are virtually farmers, fishermen and hunters. They are good warriors also. Prior to the arrival of western civilization they were quite independent clusters of identical ethnic groups that could easily trace their roots to a common origin. Their neighbours from the North had little influence on them; therefore, the Islamic influence gaining grounds in the North could not transplant or export its peripheral Islamic ideologies and thoughts into the zone. Its world-view remained African, centering on totems, the spirits in big trees, ancestral spirits and re-incarnation. The belief in amulets is also very foreign to the zone.
c. The Eastern Region: This is basically a Christian zone located in the south- eastern parts of the country. It has a strong Christian presence and a fair representation of the African traditional religion can be found there also. The topography of the region is that of low hills and rain forests traversed by deep muddy streams and gullies. The people are farmers, hunters and fishing is done on a small scale among them. Tree and root crops are the main staples in the region.
Animal protein and green vegetables abound in great supply in the region and their world-view centers around ancestral spirits, spirits living in trees and powerful forest birds like the eagle, marine spirits and blood-thirsty spirits. The position of the oracles and mediums are highly respected and sought after by the people of eastern Nigeria. Much of what is seen on Nigerian movies depicts the traditional world-view of the eastern Nigerians. Furthermore, the ethnic –Igbo groups found in the zone are almost homogenous.
d. The Western Region: This is located within the south western parts of Nigeria. It has a strong Christian presence representing the first spot in modern day Nigeria where Christianity first took roots. It has a strong representation of African traditional religion and a fair representation of the Islamic faith. The terrain is the same as the eastern parts of Nigeria in topography and vegetation. The western Nigerians have an added advantage because their territory reaches to the western coastal shores of Nigeria. This has expanded their world-view to cover marine spirits, mami-water – water-mermaid and blood-thirsty spirits. The Yoruba also a homogenous cluster of ethnicities cover this region of Nigeria besides large expanse of adjacent Benin Republic. They believe in Shango, the god of thunder and venerate the ancestors and other powerful spirits of the forests. They also hold in great esteem the oracles and the mediums at the numerous shrines all over their
communities. Much of what is seen on Nigerian movies also depicts the traditional worldview of the western Nigerians as much as it does that of the easterners.
e. The Southern Region: This region covers the shoreline areas of eastern Nigeria known as the coasts of the „Bight of Benin.‟ The peoples living in this coastline region are quite heterogeneous. They speak chiefly un-related dialects but have one thing in common and that is their location. This has imbued in them a relatively common worldview because of the main source of their livelihood which is water (primarily the sea, the Niger Delta, Cross River and the Aqua-Ibom River). All the streams of Nigeria empty into the two main watercourses of the country: the Niger and the Benue, which then confluence into one and flow down to the Atlantic Ocean through the region at the Niger Delta. The worldview of the people in the region is basically linked to water. This is where the marine spirits, mami-water and kingdoms of the sea or under water are popularly venerated. If a person tries to dispute their existence. He will be lucky if he is just laughed at.
Otherwise, one is regarded as being bad-mannered and impervious and therefore, conceited towards the beliefs of the people and should be raced out of the way.
The communities in this region depend virtually on fishing as a means of livelihood. Their worldview is also linked to snakes, the kingdom of the underworld (who rule the visible world) and the kingdom of the sea. The rulers of the so-called kingdoms are recognized as queens, princes and princesses of the mighty kingdom and can be worshipped with blood covenants.
Though cryptic, these assumptions are purely intended to assist in the unpacking of the various possible worldviews prevalent in the Nigerian and Adamawa situations, where Pentecostalism operates under a pluralism of worldviews. There cannot be a single worldview so to say that can capture the total mind-sets of the various communities in the country. Each community has its own stress even though there are commonalities like belief in witches and ancestral spirits. The map on page xviii throws more light on the cultural groupings and possible worldviews of Nigerians.