Nigeria’s religion is a mixture of
Muslim, Christianity and indigenous beliefs. The Muslim population is 50%,
Christian population 40% and, indigenous beliefs 10%. An estimate of 51 million
are believed to be Christians. Of the 51 million Christians an estimate of 26 percent
are Protestants and 14 percent Roman Catholic.[1]
Nigerians have the freedom to practice any
religion. However there is no separation of religion and state. No Nigerian
state has adopted a state religion but many states in the North have introduced
public Sharia laws. Nigeria has more than 250 ethnic groups. Of the 250 ethnic groups,
one of the most popular and politically influential are the 18% Ibo's. The
Southeastern Ibo's are mainly Christian. But they have not always practiced
Christianity.[2]
During precolonial times they believed in more
than one god. The Ibo men would pray to their gods to give them the means to
marry many women and to be blessed with many male children. It was believed
that the more people you had in your village then the stronger you are to defeat
rival tribes. The idea was to have many wives to produce many offspring’s.
Christian missionaries educated the Ibo's and caused many of them to
convert to Christianity thus taking one wife. As time passed many have awakened to the idea that they
may be a lost tribe due to new archaeological evidence and oral traditions.[3]
