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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 



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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. 

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 



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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. 



Idoko                                                                    Philosophy, The Church and Quest  for … 

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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 its 

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



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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 



Idoko                                                                    Philosophy, The Church and Quest  for … 

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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 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 



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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 



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119 

 

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).   

 

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 



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(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 



Idoko                                                                    Philosophy, The Church and Quest  for … 

121 

 

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. 

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