THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF POLITICAL PROCESS IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Religion plays vital roles in Nigeria Political process and has taken a position of importance. Religion and Political Process are interconnected and intertwined. Religion is a belief in a reality beyond what is perceptible by the sense and the practices associated with the belief. The paper discusses the influence of religion on the sustainability of political process in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The paper uses secondary data predominantly to explore how religion influenced the sustainability of political process in the area of peace building and harmony in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The paper concludes that religion has been used and is still being used to achieve political interests which have resulted in stunted growth of the process and its sustainability; it has plausible impact on political process in Nigeria especially on the reorientation of the core values of religion in peace building, National coexistence, credible, free and fair elections. Therefore, the paper recommends that the practice of plurality of religion in Nigeria should be geared towards attaining the sustainability of the process. Thus, government should give more power to the National Religious Advisory Board and the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in promoting inter-religious dialogue and religious tolerance through organized seminars and workshops for religious adherents to help in building and sustaining the political process.