PHILOSOPHY, THE CHURCH AND QUEST FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC 

LIBERATION IN NIGERIA 
 

Barnabas Obiora IDOKO 

 

Abstract 

Nigeria as a nation is plagued by a lot of socioeconomic challenges, including poverty, 

unemployment, ethnicity, youth restiveness, terrorism, secessionist agitations, electoral 

fraud, political injustice, sectionalism, insecurity and militancy. Many scholars have 

invested great amount of energy attempting to work out how these problems can be 

resolved. This study is one of these attempts; it used philosophy as a midwife for the 

church to realize her potentials as an institution. Particularly, the study adopts the 

historical method of documentary analysis to investigate the possible roles the 

Church/Christianity in Nigeria can play to achieve socioeconomic liberation for the 

country. This was based on the philosophical assumption that the Church has a radical 

potency and capacity for confronting and transforming unjust social order. To this end, the 

paper discovered that at the center of Nigeria‘s socioeconomic problem is the failure of 

leadership and as such any effort to liberate the country from its present condition must be 

political in nature. However, maintaining the ecclesiastical paradigm that the Church as a 

body should not get herself involved in partisan political activism, the paper outlined some 

possible functions by which the Church in Nigeria can contribute immensely towards the 

desired liberation. These included prophetic denunciation of the oppressive mechanism; 

promoting programs of raising social consciousness among the masses; practical 

alleviation of the conditions of the oppressed masses; peace building through positive 

reconciliation of the oppressed and oppressive members; and personal conversion of the 

ordinary man. The paper concluded that a combination of the task of spiritual and social 

liberation enhances the Church, more than any other institution, to influence the 

socioeconomic life of the Nigerians. 

Keywords: Philosophy, Church, Socio-economic Liberation. 

 

1. Introduction 

Social and political scholars often debate on whether or not the Church should involve 

herself or play any role in the socioeconomic affairs of the society. In this evolving 

controversy, there are some philosophical and religious thinkers who argue that such 

involvement would jeopardize the Church‘s spiritual status as the universal sacrament of 

salvation. Those in this category also believe that such involvement will endanger the well 

being of the society considering that modern societies are generally multi religious. An 

intervention by the Church, the argument goes, might elicit a reciprocal reaction from 

other religious groups, Islam for example and lead to conflagration of society. A. Gill on 



this ground claims that the Church in particular and religion in general are increasingly 

irrelevant in modern social life (A. Gill, 2001, 117-138). Also, the subsisting 1999 

Nigerian Constitution (Section, 10) and indeed all the previous Nigerian Constitutions 

have consistently provided that, the Government of the Federation of Nigeria shall not 

adopt any religion as state religion. Hence, the generally held notion of secularism of the 

Nigerian state essentially derives from this constitutional provision. In any case, it has to 

be noted that the secularization worldview is not a Nigerian peculiarity. It is a 

phenomenon that started in Western Europe and North America but has currently spread 

to most countries across the world. 
 

Nevertheless, there are other scholars who have shown that the refusal to confront societal 

socioeconomic injustice calls into question the Church‘s self-understanding as the light 

and salt of the earth (Callaway 2011, 1). These argue that the Church has something 

positive and substantial to contribute to the quest for socioeconomic societal liberation. To 

this end, Dillon, M. (2003) argues that the ―Church illuminates the everyday experiences 

and practices of many individuals; is a significant component of diverse institutional 

processes, including politics…and plays a vital role in public culture and social change.‖ In 

the same token, Levy, G., &Razin, R. (2012) maintains that the significance of the Church 

and religion to social liberation cannot be dispensed with. 
 

It will seem more appropriate to take a re-conciliatory or midway position that while she is 

not expected to become a political organization, the Church has a substantial role to play 

in socioeconomic liberation by acting as a principled guide, moral watch dog, spiritual 

counselor and conscience to the society. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to establish 

philosophically that implicit in the sacred and sacramental mission of the Church is her 

social ministry as an instrument of justice in an unjust socioeconomic system, an 

instrument of reconciliation and peace in a conflict and crisis- ridden society, as well as an 

instrument of freedom in an oppressive structure. This position is practically at variance 

with Karl Max perception of the church. The paper argues that participation in the process 

of socioeconomic liberation for the realization of justice is a task, even a sine qua non‘ for 

the Church as both a religious and viable social institution. 
 

The decision to pursue socioeconomic liberation of Nigeria in this research is informed by 

the level of socioeconomic injustice currently prevalent in Nigeria. As pointed out at the 

abstract, the overwhelming upsurge of secessionists‘ groups in Nigeria these days such as 

IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra), people of Oduduwa, the Boko Haram and banditry 

insurgency in the North, End SARS protesters and other similar movements are commonly 

interpreted as demonstrations against the state resulting from the strains of injustice in the 

system and as signaling the level of discontent among the citizenry especially the young 

people. 



Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1(1), 2021 

 

The historical method of documentary analysis adopted in the paper involves the 

consultation of existing documents to validate the claims made in the work. The 

discussion is divided into three broad sections. The first section attempts a clarification of 

the key concept, ‗Philosophy ‗and ‗Church‘ as the paper uses it. The second section 

discusses Nigeria‘s unjust socioeconomic system and the reality of the need for liberation. 

The third and final section deals with the liberating role of the Church in achieving the 

desired justice in the socioeconomic life of Nigeria. It is maintained in the paper that the 

Church‘s socioeconomic engagement in the pursuit of justice should not be construed to 

mean that as a body it should be expected to leave the ministry of the Word of God to 

serve tables by getting herself involved in a violent revolutionary overthrowing of 

governments or even in partisan political activism. The liberating role of the Church 

should be such that will enhance her influence on the socio-political and economic order 

without jeopardizing her spiritual and evangelistic vision and mission. Some possible 

functions are outlined by which the Church in Nigeria can contribute immensely towards 

the requisite liberation that would create the desired atmosphere of justice. 

 

2. Conceptual Elucidation of Philosophy and the Church 

Historically, philosophy is understood as the fundamental of all disciplines: the basic 

human inquiry which has yielded the multiplicity of all disciplines that take care of 

virtually all aspects of human life. It is an inquiry which is the mother of all inquiries and 

from which all other modes of inquiries originated. Philosophy is also an attitude to life. 

This is closely linked with the etymological meaning which portrays philosophy as a 

conscious quest for knowledge. Philosophy in this regard is that critical attitude to life 

which is characterized by curiosity to know, openness of the mind to all issues, lack of 

dogmatic assertions or stand, tolerance and preparedness to examine everything without 

prejudice. It is from this perspective that philosophy is used in this research to serve the 

purpose of socioeconomic liberation of Nigeria through the Church. 
 

Scholars usually conceptualize the Church in two senses: the institutional and organismic 

senses. In one sense, the Church is used as an institution while in another sense it is used 

as  an  organism.  The  Church  as  an  institution  is  defined  by  Van  Reken  as  the  ―formal 

organization that sets out to accomplish a specific purpose‖ (1999, 198). According to him: 
 

It is an agent which can do things; and can say things 

because it has its own voice. The Church as an institution 

has its own purposes and plans, its own structure and 

officers, and its own mission. It has its own proper sphere. 

In many ways it parallels other institutions, like 

governments or schools. 



It is from this perspective that C. N. Ogugua (2019, 31) understands the term, Church to 

mean an organized people of God, a spiritual and moral force to be reckoned with. On the 

other hand, the Church as an organism refers to ―the church as the body of believers, the 

communion of believers‖ (Van Reken 1999, 198). The distinction between the two 

concepts of the Church is that while the institutional church refers to a unified 

organization, the Church as an organism refers to an aggregate of individual believers in 

which each Christian acts as a personal agent with a purpose and a call in God‘s plan. 

Based on this distinction, Van Reken goes further to distinguish between ―Church work‖ 

and ―kingdom work‖. Church work, according to him, is the work that a Christian does as 

an agent of the institutional church, while kingdom work is the work that a Christian does 

in service of his Lord not as an agent of the institutional church but in his/her secular 

vocation or calling, whether as a plumber, a teacher, or a politician (Van Reken 1999, 

198). This twofold meaning of Church reverberates in Jim Harris‘ view when he says: ―By 

‗church‘ I mean both the individual believer and the institutional entity‖ (Harris 

http://thebigpicture.homestead.com/ ChurchinPolitics.html). It therefore means that in 

discussing the role of the Church in the pursuit of justice in the socioeconomic system of a 

given country, we are invariably dealing with the part that both individuals and the 

corporate body have to play in the society. 

 

3. Socioeconomic/Political Injustice in Nigeria: An Evolutionary Approach 

Nigeria became independent from Great Britain in October 1960. However, by January 

1966, the civilian government was brutally ousted by the nation‘s Military. Central to the 

arguments of the soldiers, for toppling the government in power was the question of 

corruption, in which the adherents of each of the two major religious persuasions in the 

country were self-evident participants. In addition to leadership sleaze, there was inter- 

tribal hatred in the national polity. Hence, the first military coup of January 1966 in the 

country and the counter coup in July of the same year, featured on massive scales, alleged 

and proven cases of tribal induced murder of the nation‘s leaders. 
 

Profoundly found in the country at this time were deep-seated ethnic antagonisms, not 

religious bigotry. A civil war ensued (the Nigeria-Biafra war) fought between July 1967 

and January 1970. At the end of the warfare, the Military remained in power, with 

intermittent pretenses of handing over the affairs of the state to civilians, whom they 

would subsequently bring down. S. I. Ebohon, and N. O. Obakhedo, (2012) argue that 

despite the heterogeneous nature of the Nigerian state and its concomitant defects, the 

nation at independence, was seen as a beacon of hope to many other nation-states in the 

continent. That is to say that no matter the circumstances, Nigeria held the prospects of a 

strong developmental state that would be a rallying point to other states. The reason for 

this huge confidence was that Nigeria was perceived as a regional economic hub and 

political force and an African regional super-power. The military mishap in the politics of 

the country however unfortunately accelerated the pace of bringing the emergent state to 

http://thebigpicture.homestead.com/


Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1(1), 2021 

 

its developmental nadir. The Military in the country continued to stage counter coups 

against subsisting military governments in the Nigerian state. Hence, leadership instability 

(as driven by the soldiers) remained a permanent feature of governance in Nigeria, from 

October 1960 to May 1999, when the men of the Armed Forces seemed to have finally 

surrendered power to civilian politicians. 
 

However, in all of the foregoing, another enduring feature of national affairs in  the 

country is what seems to border on elite determination to guarantee that the Nigerian 

nation fails to survive as a nationally prosperous entity, for the good of all her citizens. 

Consequently, either in military fatigues or civilian garbs, the power elite in Nigeria 

possesses a seemingly irrepressible tendency to gravitate towards the thieving of national 

resources. Citing Ihonvbere C. C. Ojukwu & J. O. Shopeju (2010) contend that the 

country‘s picture and identity is replete with confused, factionalized and extremely corrupt 

elites, with a limited sense of nationhood. These elites, Ojukwu &Shopeju argue, lacking 

strong and viable base in production, turns the state as its primary instrument of primitive 

accumulation and in the end, the state is mangled and rendered impotent, in the quest for 

nationhood, growth and development, much less democracy. 
 

Hence, according to T. Soniyi (2012), it was estimated that $400 billion of Nigeria‘s oil 

revenue had been stolen or misspent since the country‘s independence in 1960. The 

estimation was attributed to a Nigerian-born former World Bank Vice-President for 

Africa, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili. In that same year (2012), almost 100 million Nigerians were 

living on less than $1 (£0.63) a day (BBC News (2012). World Population Review  

(World Population Review, 2015), highlights that Nigeria‘s current population is in the 

region of 194.0 million people out of which almost 100 million were living on less than $1 

(£0.63) a day. Furthermore, according to L. Nwabughiogu (2015), Nigeria‘s Vice 

President, Yemi Osinbajo, had disclosed that about 110 million Nigerians were still living 

below poverty line in the country, despite the policies of past governments to improve 

their welfare. It is however held in this study that elite grandstanding had fully tainted 

such policies of government, thereby making them largely ineffectual, as such policies 

were not truly designed with the needy citizens in mind. In the face of these apparent 

distresses, B. Ademola-Olateju (2013) then ponders: 
 

Why are Nigerians content at setting new unbecoming 

standards every day? Bad roads? Take it to The Lord in 

prayer! Comatose Healthcare System? Bad diseases will 

not be our portion in Jesus name! Collapsed Educational 

System? What will be will be, our children are 

overcomers! Epileptic Power Supply? May the good Lord 

bind all the principalities, demonic spirits and the powers 

of darkness preventing Nigeria from enjoying stable 



electricity supply! In consequence, Nigerians sit on their 

hands, praying for celestial edicts to be beamed down to 

them from God‘s majestic throne. 
 

Nigeria‘s contemporary narrative therefore borders on hopes betrayed by the elite and new 

expectations solely hoisted on the benefaction of the Almighty by the citizenry. It is also a 

history of evident elite-arrest of a national system - what Ebohon&Obakhedo (2012) have 

similarly depicted as elite constructivism. In addition, embodied in these configurations,  

is a critical case of apparent acquiescence to such state capture, by the subaltern class of 

the Nigerian polity. 

 

4. The Church and the Socio-Economic Liberation of the Nigerian Society 

As already noted at the introductory part of this work, participation in the process of 

socioeconomic liberation for the realization of justice is a task, even a ‗sine qua non‘ for 

the Church both as a religious and viable social institution. Christians are to take positive 

actions to destroy all forms of oppression and injustice wherever they are found (Hastings 

1976, 91). Nevertheless, this does not mean, that the Church as a  body should  be 

expected to leave the Word of God to serve tables by getting herself involved in a violent 

revolutionary overthrowing of governments or even in partisan political activism. The 

liberating role of the Church should be such that will enhance her influence on the 

socioeconomic order without jeopardizing her spiritual and evangelistic vision and 

mission. This will involve her confronting and challenging every unjust, oppressive and 

exploitative structure with Christian values and ideals. This implies a prophetic and 

priestly role for the Church in Nigeria, just like Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah and other 

prophets in the Bible. In this role, the Church can, along with her direct spiritual vocation, 

be committed to the process of justice, human liberation and social transformation by 

fulfilling the following five functions: prophetic denunciation of the oppressive 

mechanism; promoting programs of raising social consciousness among the masses; 

practical alleviation of the conditions of the oppressed masses; peace building through 

positive reconciliation of the oppressed and oppressive members; and personal conversion 

of the ordinary man. We shall now examine these points in some details. 

 

4.1 Prophetic Denunciation of the Oppressive Mechanism 

The Church‘s prophetic stance obligates her to confront and challenge the systems of 

corruption and injustice which oppress, exploit and deprive the masses by criticizing and 

judging them by the Gospel standards. The Church in Nigeria, in the words of Archbishop 

Cyril Garbett, is to ―fight the world by bearing against it militant and prophetic witness … 

shown in open attacks on the sins of the world … and expose the falseness of the values 

accepted by the world …‖ (Ryan 1987,159-160). By Means of official statements from 

ecumenical bodies like CAN, ecclesiastical councils, critical and corrective sermons, and 

so on, such unjust systems can be decried, denounced and called to order. Such prophetic 



Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1(1), 2021 

 

calls can function to disturb the comfort and untouched conscience of the affluent in the 

society whose power and wealth are accumulated at the expense and to the detriment of 

the impoverished peasants. As the proclaimer and interpreter of the Divine purpose and 

will for the nation, the Church can act as a moral check on the activities of the ruling class, 

rejecting, resisting and denouncing ungodly and unpopular policies which prevent the full 

realization  of  justice  and  equity  in  the  society.  She  can  provide  an  ―alternative  voice‖ 

through the establishment of a more reliable, intrepid and independent media for the 

dissemination of her prophetic messages to the nation. As a prophet the Church can 

function as the conscience of the nation, the voice of the voiceless, a critic of unjust 

institution and an iconoclast in the oppressive tradition. As S. I. Omoera points out, the 

Church  is  ―to  be  aggressive  …  in  condemning  sin‖  in  demanding  for  justice,  and  in 

fighting ―the battle of the poor, the hungry …‖ against a system that ―too often turns deaf 

ear to their appeals‖ (Hastings 1987, 93). 

 

4.2 Promoting Programs of Raising Social Consciousness among the Masses 

In line with Francis Bacon‘s sagacious assertion that knowledge is power, this is a social 

educational program aimed at creating socio-political awareness among the people for an 

eventual peaceful elimination of the structures of oppression. It is a gradual but effective 

approach to structural change through a re-orientation of the group and individual‘s 

consciousness. The sensitization of the masses involves, among other things, the 

provocation, stimulation, creation and building up of ―a new awareness in them‖ to give 

them ―a new consciousness‖ which encourages them ―to see the possibility‖ and ―accept 

responsibility for their own development.‖ It also involves the mobilization of the masses 

―to join hands together for positive action towards change‖ (Omoera, 1987, 125). The goal 

of this mental liberation is to emancipate the Nigerian minds from such ―fatalistic world 

view‖ which makes them to resign themselves to the culture of poverty and hopelessness. It 

enables them to be able to see their ―capacity to create a better society for themselves‖ 

(Adegbola 1987, 69 - 70). This is the attitudinal aspect of liberation philosophy in which 

the marginalized, oppressed and down-trodden masses are able to face the future with 

meaningful and reasonable optimism. This is done by helping them to see themselves in 

the light of the biblical evaluation of themselves. Such function disabuses and emancipates 

their minds from the belief that God has destined their lot to be so. This attitudinal aspect 

of liberation philosophy also involves the sensitization of the upper and middle class elite 

members of the Church to the real nature and extent of the plight of the oppressed, thereby 

soliciting their change of attitude, sympathy and commitment to the cause of the 

oppressed. It may be that some of them do not actually realize the full implications and 

effects of their activities on the masses. They may likely change for better and help to 

change their colleagues when their consciences are awakened. 



4.3 Practical Alleviation of the Conditions of the Oppressed Masses 

The Church‘s liberation work as the champion of the cause of the poor, weak and 

oppressed masses does not end with attacking the perpetrators of injustice and oppression 

―afflicting the comfortable‖, but also includes the alleviation of the miserable and painful 

condition  of  the  victims  of  the  system  ―comforting  the  afflicted‖.  This  will  necessitate 

practical concern with economic programs for the improvement of their conditions, since 

the callous bureaucratic system would only frustrate the hopes of the helpless masses for 

such projects if left in their hands. This goes beyond mere charity works for the provision 

of subsistence needs. The Churches can embark on practical socioeconomic projects such 

as we see in some Latin American countries. This can include building of hospitals, 

establishing co-operative bodies for joint venture, scholarship funds for students from  

poor families, educational programs for those who are disadvantaged by the government‘s 

educational system, organizing training programmes in business and technological skills. 

Although some of these projects have been undertaken by some churches already, their 

lack of liberating tendencies is obvious when we try to answer the question, which 

category of people benefit from them, the poor or the rich members of these churches? In 

addition to this, the Church must also seek for ways of influencing public policies to favor 

the improvement of the poor and powerless masses, since she is their last hope and place 

of refuge. 

 

4.4 Peace Building through Positive Reconciliation of the Oppressed and Oppressing 

Members 

The priestly role of reconciliation is another major social function of the Church in the 

process of socio-political and economic liberation. Unlike the Marxist approach to justice, 

which implies the elimination of the oppressive rich for the liberation of the oppressed 

poor, the Christian approach to justice seeks to create a community of reconciled people, 

the rich and the poor, the oppressor and the oppressed. It is ―a peace-creating justice which 

binds together in a new transformed community‖ (Hellwig 1974, 169). The Church‘s 

liberation ministry is, therefore, a ministry of positive reconciliation of both parties and 

not that of violent revolution. The Church is to show concern both for the deplorable 

conditions of the victims of injustice and oppression and also for the ultimate judgment on 

the vices of the oppressors. Thus, its prophetic indictments of the oppressive status quo 

should not be mere arbitrary, malicious and vindictive criticisms of the system, but rather 

constructive and corrective criticisms which ultimately aim at the eventual liberation of 

both the oppressors from their vices and the oppressed from their victimization, thereby 

reconciling them. This fact is aptly captured in the statement cited by Uchegbue that ―God 

does not seek the destruction of members of the ruling classes who are willing to change 

their ways … in order to create a new system…‖ (Uchegbue 1985, 99). 



Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1(1), 2021 

 

 
4.5 Personal Conversion of the Ordinary Man 

The Church‘s liberating mission in Nigeria goes beyond commitment to mere 

philanthropic activism or welfarism, protesting against social injustices and motivating 

and mobilizing people for active participation in social transformation. Religion 

essentially sets a transcendental goal by helping us to realize that life is more than the 

satisfaction of immediate material needs of hunger and poverty (Luke 12:15; Matthew 

6:25). As Douglas Webster cited in Norman Autton rightly pointed out, the human tragedy 

is sin and not hunger while the worst privation is ignorance of God rather than social 

inequality. Therefore, though poverty, exploitation, oppression, and so on seems to be the 

prevailing problems of our day which provide the Church with ―the context for mission‖, 

the  ―contents‖  of  her  mission  are  not  determined  by  them.  In  the  final  analysis,  the 

Church‘s mission is ultimately and supremely concerned with God (Autton 1972: 226- 

227). According to him, though ―Man does need bread‖, he needs God above all (Autton 

1972: 227). 
 

Thus while the Church seeks for socio-political and economic liberation to provide a more 

just system in Nigeria, it must relentlessly and without distraction seek for the spiritual 

liberation of the people – a change in the personal man himself. If social changes are to 

bear lasting fruits, a deep-seated conversion and fundamental spiritual transformation of 

the individual members of society – the oppressed, the oppressors and the liberators are of 

indispensable necessity. The reason is that the ordinary, normal, usual or average man is 

inherently corrupt. History has proved that the revolutionary of today may become the 

reactionary of tomorrow and the progressive of today may become the conservative of 

tomorrow unless they are inwardly transformed themselves. How can one under the iron 

shackles of evil and wickedness change an evil and wicked system? This reflects the 

picture of the hypocritical liberators presented by the Apostle Peter in his Second Epistle 

where he  writes,  ―While  they promise  them  liberty,  they themselves  are  the  servants  of 

corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage‖ (2 Peter 

2:19 KJV). 

 

5. Conclusion 

This study has used critical analysis to demonstrate that Nigeria, like many countries of 

the world today, especially, countries in Africa is in great need of socioeconomic 

liberation. It is also very obvious that the Church as a sacred institution with indispensable 

social significance and relevance can and should contribute significantly towards the 

realization of this noble responsibility. What is needed, for the church to enhance her 

effectiveness in fulfilling this aspect of her mission therefore, is a balanced form of 

theological and philosophical orientation which is both spiritually oriented and 

socioeconomically relevant. This will produce a kind of church ―that calls the world evil 

and steps into the world, looks at its evil forms full in the face, and does something to 



change it‖ (Verkuyl and Schulte 1974, 69). It is in this light that Edmund Ilogu rightly 

comments  that  ―There  is  no  hope  for  calling  any  organization  a  Church  that  has  not 

manifested the marks of Christ‘s fight against evil in the world‖ (Ilogu 1964, 275). Such a 

church that must be able to fulfill this task must be a dynamic and progressive church 

rather than a static and conservative church that arbitrarily supports the status quo. As Iwe 

equally points out, ―Only a creative church with a high sense of ministry and commitment 

can effect significant contributions to the life of its people‖ and adequately, legitimately 

and competently work for the welfare of society …‖ (Iwe 1979, 161). 
 

In sum therefore, a combination of the task of spiritual and social liberation enhances the 

Church, more than any other institution, to influence the socioeconomic life of the 

Nigerian society positively. It is no exaggeration to maintain that an inspired, honest, 

faithful, dedicated, converted and courageous Church, through its clergy and laity, remains 

a powerful agent for social change and liberation of the citizens of a callous, corrupt, inept 

and exploitative society like Nigeria. In other words, the Church in Nigeria has the 

mandate, message and method which can contribute greatly in the attempts to solve the 

socioeconomic problems of the country. 



Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1(1), 2021 

 
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