Education and Religion: The Nigerian Situation - A Sociological Analysis

Social change creates some impact on the traditional systems of the people of developing countries. This work examines the relationship between levels of education and the expression of various measures of religious attitudes and behaviours among Nigerian adults living in Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria is a developing country undergoing social change. The work is exploratory in nature. It is aimed at making a partial assessment of the expectation that people’s religiosity weakens with increase in level of education. The importance of this work arises out of many changes affecting religious life in the country. Because it is exploratory in nature, perhaps it has provided informative data which will lead to a more comprehensive investigation on the impact of education on religiosity in a developing country like Nigeria. Moreover, church leaders in the future need to be informed about how people feel toward the role of religion in their lives. Also, Sociologists need to understand changes that are going on in central types of behaviour like education and religion. Studies of this sort may be useful and meaningful in determining the rate of change going on in human societies.