Perceived Influence of Religious Organisations as Political Socialisation Agents in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

After sixteen years of democratic hiatus in Nigeria, the nation abrogated military
governance and embraced democratic system of governance since 1999. However, it is observed
that political participation is largely limited to voting, while political apathy is also witnessed
during elections. Scholars have attributed this subject political participation to lack of political
socialization. While several studies had dwelt on other agents of political socialization, few had
ventured into researches on investigating religious organisations as agents Using a multistage
sampling technique, a survey involving 540 participants. selected from the eighteen local
governments of Ondo State who were given Likert Scaled questionnaires with a Cronbach Alpha
measurement of range 0.65 and 0.79, supplied their perceptions on the issue of study. From their
responses, the study garnered that submits that most leaders of the various religious organizations
were largely aware of the various political happenings in the country, actively engaged in the
political education and socialization of religious adherents. The study concludes that religious
organizations act as political socialization agents but needs to engage in more enlightenment
programmes that would encourage more and higher levels of political participation by religious
adherents.