KARL MARX’S CONCEPTION OF RELIGION AND NIGERIAN SUBSIDY REGIME: ANALYZING THE INTERCONNECTION AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC RELEVANCE

Abstract

The abrupt removal of fuel subsidy has brought excruciating pains and sufferings to ordinary Nigerians in all ramifications of life. The socio-economic sufferings accruing from it has further deepened the already existing socio-economic quagmire bedeviling the country since independence as a result of bad leadership. However, the government instead of being decisive in providing lasting solutions has resorted to using religious rhetoric as a tool for social control over the poor. This paper examined the extent to which government’s use of religious terms like hope, patience, faith, and sacrifice in Presidential addresses aligns with Marx’s conceptions of religion. This is crucial because critics of the policy of subsidy removal in Nigeria have often turned blind fashion to how government’s approach on the subsidy removal aligns with classical socio-economic theories like that of Max Weber and Karl Marx. Using the methodology of desk research and critical analysis, the paper argued that the strategy of government in addressing the socio-economic hardships and pains of the people strongly validates Marx’s conception of religion as opium of the masses. Moreover, the citizens’ approach to see religion as a temporary sigh of relief or escape from the socio-economic hardships and injustices in Nigeria today validates Marx’s conceptions of religion. The paper concludes that the actions and inactions of government and citizens with regards to subsidy removal demonstrate how economic conditions could influence religious beliefs and vice versa