Navigation
In other projects
Learn more
Core topics
Bahá’í Faith
Central Figures
Teachings
Practices

Nigeria

From Bahaipedia
 Nigeria
The 1970 National Convention of Nigeria.
Location of Nigeria
National AssemblyNigeria
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 213,401,323
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 49,257
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Bahá'í Thomas Beresford Macauley 
 -  Local Assembly 1957, Owo & Enugu 
 -  National Assembly 1970 
Related media
Categories: Nigeria • People

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a West African country. Its official language is English with Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba also being national languages. Islam and Christianity are the predominant religions in the country.

The region has been inhabited since prehistory. Yoruba kingdoms were established in the Middle Ages and trade with Europe began in the 16th Century. In the 19th Century the Sokoto Caliphate established itself in the area however the it was colonized by the British Empire with the Colony of Nigeria being formally established in 1914. Nigeria achieved some autonomy as a nation in 1954 and was granted full independence from Britain in 1960.

Efforts to establish the Bahá’í Faith began in the 1940's and administrative development in the late 1950's lead to the firm establishment of a community. In the 1980's the community began to develop its capacity and notably established a body focused on women's developments with the community supporting efforts to empower women across the country to the present day.

History[edit]

Early Developments[edit]

The first Bahá’í in Nigeria was Richard St. Barbe Baker who served as Assistant Conservator of Forests in the southern provinces of Nigeria from 1924 to 1929 although he did not actively pursue establishing a Bahá’í community in the country.[2] Another early contact between the Bahá’í Faith and Nigeria was prominent Nigerian politician Kingsley MBadiwe speaking at the New York Bahá’í center in 1941.[3]

In the mid 1940's Thomas Beresford Macauley of Nigeria, a corporal who lived in Ebute-Metta near Lagos, became a Bahá’í after corresponding with Joseph Kuperberg of New York through letters. The New York Bahá’í community sent him Bahá’í literature and he established a Bahá’í study group with fifteen members utilizing the books as study material.[4][5] When Shoghi Effendi launched the African Campaign to establish the Bahá’í Faith in Africa Nigeria was not included as a goal as there was already a Bahá’í presence in the country.[6]

In June 1955 Oscar Njang and Peter Oben-Etchi established a Church in Calabar which they called the Bahá’í Church. Neither of them was a Bahá’í but they had a copy of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Paris Talks which they used as the basis for the Churches teachings and sermons.[7] Disunity between Njang and Oben-Etchi resulted in Oben-Etchi leaving Calabar and the Church disbanding in early 1956.[8] Njang moved to Akpabeyo where he joined another Church and Oben-Etchi found Enoch Olinga's address in the copy of Paris Talks and wrote to him about the church and Njang's success as a teacher.[9] Njang was surprised when he received a letter from Olinga which encouraged him to teach the Faith and shared the letter with his Churches pastor with the pastor accusing him of following a false prophet. Njang wrote to Olinga again, received a reply which responded to the accusation the Faith was false, and Njang then spoke at his Church inviting people to join the new religion. Five members left the Church with Njang and Olinga sent Njang Bahá’í declaration forms advising him to sign one himself before inviting the others to declare.[10]

Development of the Faith in Nigeria began in earnest when pioneers began to settle in the country in 1956. Glen and Lois Lissner pioneered to Owo from America, Margaret Lloyd pioneered to Kano from England, and Oscar Njang returned to Calabar, and as of 1956 there were fourteen Bahá’ís in Nigeria.[11] Sherman and Lillie Rosenberg pioneered to the capital, Lagos, in 1958.[12]

Administrative Development[edit]

Bahá’í pioneers were able to establish communities across Nigeria in the late 1950's and in 1957 Local Spiritual Assemblies were established in Owo and Enugu, and a Local Spiritual Assembly of Akpabuyo was formed in 1958.[13] Teaching work progressed from this point and by 1963 there were eleven Local Spiritual Assemblies in the country and Bahá’ís living in twenty-three localities.[14] By 1964 there were fifteen Local Spiritual Assemblies in Nigeria,[15] and a major Teaching Conference was held in Eastern Nigeria in 1965.[16]

In 1964 the National Spiritual Assembly of West Central Africa was formed as a regional body based in Cameroon which assumed responsibility for administration of the national community of Nigeria.[17] In 1967 Cameroon established an independent National Spiritual Assembly and the West Central Africa Assembly moved its headquarters to Lagos in Nigeria,[18] however as of mid 1967 violence across Nigeria due to a civil war made meetings of the body impossible and it was replaced by an Emergency Administrative Committee appointed by the Universal House of Justice.[19] In the Autumn of 1967 a copy of The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh was presented to the secretary of the Head of State of Nigeria, Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowan.[20] There were forty-one Local Spiritual Assemblies in Nigeria by 1968,[21] and that year Jenabe Caldwell visited Lagos to assist with teaching efforts, with a Bahá’í Center for Lagos being secured at some point during the year.[22] In 1970 the independent National Spiritual Assembly of Nigeria was formed and the Emergency Administrative Committee disbanded,[23] with the body being incorporated in December 1970.[24]

In September 1971 Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited Nigeria during her tour of Africa which resulted in unprecedented publicity for the religion in the country. She initially spent time in Lagos and also made a visit to the nearby town of Ilaro where she presided over a meeting with many locals declaring afterwards. While in the capital conducted media interviews on radio and television and held press conferences. During her visit pamphlets requested by the National Spiritual Assembly were delivered to their headquarters so she personally coordinated efforts to have them packaged for distribution. After nine days in Lagos she travelled across the country by Land Rover on her way to Benin stopping in Eneugu where she gave a radio interview which was broadcast across the country.[25]

In 1972 a National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds for Nigeria was secured, and by 1973 a Teaching Institute was established and a Local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds had been obtained. As of 1973 there were 88 Local Spiritual Assemblies in the country with Bahá’ís residing in 208 localities.[26]

As of 1974 many Bahá’í pioneers had departed Nigeria and in order to avoid the community becoming stagnant Enoch Olinga toured the country throughout 1974. Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir also visited Lagos briefly in May 1974 and also visited in 1975 and 1976.[27] National Teaching Conferences were held in 1974 and 1975 to stimulate activity and in 1975 the election of delegates to the National Convention took place through unit conventions for the first time.[28] Despite these efforts a large number of Local Spiritual Assemblies lapsed throughout the mid 1970's.[29]

In the late 1970's the Bahá’í Faith achieved greater prominence in Nigeria when it was added to the curriculum of the Department for Religious Studies at the University of Ife,[30] and the teaching work saw some successes with Regional Teaching Committees coordinating efforts and at least one Local Spiritual Assembly being established in every state in the country by 1978.[31] In 1977 an International Youth Conference for Africa was held in Nigeria,[32] and in 1979 Collis Featherstone visited the country during a tour of West Africa.[33]

Self Sufficiency[edit]

In August 1982 a major International Bahá’í Teaching Conference was held in Lagos.[34] Many teaching projects were organized to utilize the large number of Bahá’ís visiting the country and one of these subsidiary teaching projects secured 255 declarations and resulted in five Local Spiritual Assemblies forming in just one week.[35] As of 1982 the Nigerian Bahá’í community had achieved full financial self sufficiency and was able to cover all expenses related to the Teaching Conference.[36]

In November 1982 the West African Centre for Bahá’í Studies was established in Nigeria aiming to foster Bahá’í scholarly pursuits in the region,[37] and the Universal House of Justice encouraged the body to promote the Faith at the academic level.[38] Other accomplishments of the early 1980's included the establishment of the Bahá’í children's magazine The Shining Stars,[39] and a Bahá’í Publishing Trust of Nigeria.[40]

In the late 1980's a Bahá’í Women's Development Board was formed in Nigeria and registered with Nigeria's National Council of Women's Societies,[41] and another administrative accomplishment was Bahá’í marriage being officially recognized by the Nigerian government in September 1988, empowering Bahá’í bodies to issue marriage certificates.[42] The late 1980's also saw mass teaching succeed in Nigeria with one project resulting in 802 people declaring through the efforts of a six member youth teaching team who visited six Yoruba villages.[43] In 1987 the Enoch Olinga Project took place in Eket which saw twenty teachers secure 353 declarations and 14 Local Spiritual Assemblies forming, and in 1988 the Olinga-Akwa Ibom Teaching Project was held in Eket securing 643 declarations and forming 28 Local Spiritual Assemblies.[44]

The 1990's[edit]

Between 1993 and 1994 a four month period of intensive teaching which focused on proclamation to prominent community figures including school administrators, clergymen, police officers, and village chiefs resulted in 700 declarations.[45] During the same period Bahá’í women in Imo State began a social and economic development project growing soya bean to provide protein to families unable to afford conventional sources of protein in their diets.[46] In December 1994 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Owom decided to focus on proclaiming the Faith in the villages of Iku I and Iku II in Nigeria which had communities which were estranged from one another. Through the efforts of the Owom Assembly the two villages merged and formed a Local Spiritual Assembly to govern their affairs.[47]

In March 1995 the Dr. Muhajir South Plateau Long-Term Teaching Project was launched which resulted in 2000 declarations and 42 Local Spiritual Assemblies forming.[48] Around the same time a Bahá’í was appointed by the Nigerian National Council of Women's Societies to serve on a delegation to a regional women's conference in Senegal,[49] and between 1995 and 1996 a group of Bahá’í women in Ikot Oko Ibon established a farm which produced goods which were sold to fund women's activities in the state.[50] In June 1996 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ibadan sponsored an interfaith conference on the equality of men and women in religion at the University of Ibadan.[51]

Recent Years[edit]

It was estimated that there were 15,000 Bahá’ís in Nigeria as of 2000.[52] A major youth conference was held in Sapele, Nigeria, in 2013 at the direction of the Universal House of Justice.[53]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 803. View as PDF.
  3. ↑ "African Prince Speaks". The New York Age. 15 November 1941. p. 4. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  4. ↑ World Order, Vol. 13(8), p 37
  5. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 107
  6. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 91
  7. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 199
  8. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 205
  9. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 205
  10. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 206
  11. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 93
  12. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 108
  13. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 108
  14. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 108
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 126. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 176. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ Baha'i News (1963). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 393, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ Baha'i News (1967). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 434, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ Duane Troxel, A Pioneer Remembrance of Nigeria During the Civil War, Part I: 1967-1968, Self-published, 1984, p 4
  20. ↑ Duane Troxel, A Pioneer Remembrance of Nigeria During the Civil War, Part I: 1967-1968, Self-published, 1984, p 7
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 151. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ Duane Troxel, A Pioneer Remembrance of Nigeria During the Civil War, Part I: 1967-1968, Self-published, 1984, p 8
  23. ↑ Baha'i News (1970). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 473, Pg(s) 21. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 383. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ Baha'i News (1972). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 491, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 192. View as PDF.
  27. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 147. View as PDF.
  28. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 171. View as PDF.
  29. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 147. View as PDF.
  30. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 104. View as PDF.
  31. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 148. View as PDF.
  32. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 150. View as PDF.
  33. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 147. View as PDF.
  34. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 158. View as PDF.
  35. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 102. View as PDF.
  36. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 170. View as PDF.
  37. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 121. View as PDF.
  38. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 366. View as PDF.
  39. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 168. View as PDF.
  40. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 169. View as PDF.
  41. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 156. View as PDF.
  42. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 249. View as PDF.
  43. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 138. View as PDF.
  44. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 263. View as PDF.
  45. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 22 (1993-1994), Pg(s) 115. View as PDF.
  46. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 22 (1993-1994), Pg(s) 259. View as PDF.
  47. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 78. View as PDF.
  48. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 82. View as PDF.
  49. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 105. View as PDF.
  50. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1997). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 24 (1995-1996), Pg(s) 80. View as PDF.
  51. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 80. View as PDF.
  52. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962, Brill: Leiden, 2009, p 107
  53. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/community-news/youth-conferences/sapele.html


Retrieved from "https://bahaipedia.org/index.php?title=Nigeria&oldid=138385"
Powered by MediaWiki