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