Social Obligations of the Church in a Failed Nigerian State

Abstract

This chapter identifies the church as part of a caring civil society that is expected to play leading roles in the amelioration of the condition of the people in context of Nigeria’s gradual sliding into a failed state. The concept of civil society originally derives from ancient Greco-Roman philosophy, developed by later scholars in the Enlightenment era, such as Thomas Payne and Georg Hegel. It describes a domain distinct from the state where citizens attempt to determine their aspirations and implement their goals and needs as an act of liberty and democracy without total recourse to government. In so far as the church joins the league of Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and forms some associations via its agents, through which it intervenes in public welfare issues, it is part of civil society. Ye t as an institution, the church is above the general classification of civil society groups, most of which are characteristically nonreligious by policy.