Islam and Christianity are the two main religions practiced in Nigeria. The country is home to some of the world's largest Muslim and Christian populations, simultaneously. Nigeria is divided roughly in half with Muslims making up about 53% to 56% and Christians accounting for about 43% to 45% of the country's total population. The Christian share of Nigeria's population is currently in decline, due to a lower fertility rate relative to the Muslim population in the country. In 2020, Nigeria held the fifth largest Muslim population, and the sixth largest Christian population in the world.
The majority of Nigerian Muslims are either Sunni Muslims and are members of Sufi brotherhoods or Tariqa. Most Sufis follow the Qadiriyya, Tijaniyyah or Mouride orders. There is also a small Shia community (see Shia in Nigeria), as well as Ahmadiyya and Mahdiyya minorities. In terms of Nigeria's major ethnic groups' religious affiliations, the Hausa ethnic group in the north is almost entirely Muslim, and the Yoruba are religiously diverse, with most following either Christianity or Islam, though a significant number practice the Yoruba religion. Most Christians are Protestant (broadly defined), though about a quarter are Catholic. The Igbos of the east, the Ibibio, and Ijaw in the south are almost entirely Christians with a few practitioners of traditional religions. The Middle Belt region of Nigeria contains most of the minority ethnic groups and the most religious diversity in Nigeria as the region has a mix of Muslims and Christians, as well as members of traditional animist religions.
Nigeria is officially a secular state with no official state religion. Article 10 of the Constitution states that “The Government of the Federation or a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion.” However, twelve Muslim-majority northern states have incorporated Sharia courts into their legal systems with the power and jurisdiction of these courts waxing and waning over the past two decades. In some of these states, sharia courts are optional arbitration courts for personal status issues whereas, in others, Sharia has effectively replaced the formerly secular state level legal system in both civil and criminal contexts. This has brought controversy due to its discriminatory practices towards religious and sexual minorities.Owobi Angrew, Tiptoeing Through A Constitutional Minefield: The Great Sharia Controversy in Nigeria, Journal of African Law, Vol 48, No 2, 2002. Northern Nigeria has also been the site of the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency which has led to the death and displacement of tens of thousands of people.
Religious demographics
The 1963 Nigerian census, the last that asked about religion, found that about 47.2% of the population was Muslim, 34.3% Christian, and 18.5% other.
Figures in the 2020 edition of The World Christian Encyclopedia draw on figures assembled and updated as part of the World Christian Database (WCD); these put those who identify as Christians at 46.3%, and Muslims at 46.2% and ‘ethnic religions’ at 7.2%. WCD figures predict that both Muslims and Christians will continue to grow as a proportion of the population through to 2050. Their projections predict Christians at that point will make up on 48% of the population and Muslims at 48.7%, both growing at the expense of ethnic religions, down to 2.9% of the population. Hsu et al. (2008) found that the WCD appears to overestimate Christian identification and cautioned against what seems to be uncritical acceptance of figures given by religious groups of their membership. The criticisms offered by Hsu et al. (2008) have been supported by evidence found by Nigeria Mckinnon (2020), which demonstrated that the WCD had substantially overestimated the Anglican proportion of the population.
The 2008 MEASURE Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) found 53% Muslim, 45% Christian, and 2% other; the 2008 Afrobarometer poll found 49% Christian, 50% Muslim, and 1% other; Pew's own survey found 52% Muslim, 46% Christian, and 1% other.
According to a 2018 estimate in The World Factbook by the CIA, the population is estimated to be 53.5% Muslim, 45.9% Christian (10.6% Catholic and 35.3% other Christian), and 0.6% as other. In a 2019 report released by Pew Research Center in 2015, the Muslim population was estimated to be 50% while the Christian population was estimated to be 48.1%. The Pew Forum in a 2010 report compared reports from several sources.. Pew's own survey info contradicts other Pew reports so there may be an error In a 2020 projection based on 2010 estimate released by Pew Research Center, the Muslim population was estimated to be 51.1% while the Christian population was estimated to be 46.9% while the remaining 2% was other.
The 2020 estimate of Pew Research Center reported that Nigeria had a 56.1% Muslim majority while the Nigerian Christian minority numbered around 43.4%.
A 2022 Afrobarometer survey on religion in Nigeria found that, 54.2% of the respondents identified as Christian and 45.5% identified as Muslim. The remaining 0.3% of respondents in Nigeria said they identified with other or no religious beliefs.
The 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) found that 57.7% of the 49,978 respondents identified as Muslim, 41.7% identified as Christian, and the remaining 0.6% practised other religions (including traditional beliefs and no religion).
A 2024 Afrobarometer survey found that 51.4% of the 1,600 respondents identified as Christian and 47.7% identified as Muslim, with the remaining 0.8% identifying with other faiths or no religion.
Islam
Nigeria has one of the largest Muslim populations in Africa. In Nigeria, about 52 percent of the population is Muslim. The Muslim population in Nigeria continues to grow. Estimates suggest 80-85 million Nigerians identify as Muslim (roughly 50% of the total population), of which the majority are probably Sunni (60 million), though this is not a unified identity and includes a wide variety of different viewpoints. For example, members of Sufi orders, members of the Jama‘atul Izalatul Bid’ah Wa’ikhamatul Sunnah (or Izala) movement, and members of Boko Haram might all identify as Sunni, but the Izala and Boko Haram movements have had strong anti-Sufi components.
In Nigeria, the most prominent existing Sufi orders are the Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya, and a 2012 Pew Research Center survey showed 37% of Nigerians identify with Sufi orders (19% identified specifically as Tijaniyya and 9% as Qadiriyya). The majority of the Muslim population in Nigeria live in the Northern, South western and Central states. Islam was introduced to northern and central Nigeria in the Middle Ages as early as the 11th century and was well established in the major capitals of the region by the 16th century, spreading into the countryside and toward the Middle Belt uplands. Shehu Usman dan Fodio established a government in Northern Nigeria based on Islam before the advent of European colonialism. The British colonial government therefore established indirect rule in Northern Nigeria based on the structure of this government. Islam also came to the South Western Yoruba-speaking areas during the time of Mansa Musa's Mali Empire.
The vast majority of Muslims in Nigeria are Sunni belonging to the Maliki school of jurisprudence; however, a sizeable minority also belong to the Shafi’i madhhab. Many Sunni Muslims are members of Sufi brotherhoods. Most Sufis follow the Kadiriyya, Tijaniyya or Mouride movements. Nigerian Islam has become heterogenous with the springing up of many Islamic sects. Notable examples are the Izala movement, the Shia movement, and many local Islamic sects that have limited expansion.
Shia There are no accurate figures of Shias in Nigeria. According to independent sources like Pew Research Center Shias make up less than 5% of the Nigerian Muslim population. The Shia Muslims of Nigeria are primarily located in Sokoto State. Shia Muslims make up between two and four million of Nigeria's population.Nigeria: 'No Settlement With Iran Yet' , Paul Ohia, allAfrica - This Day, 16 November 2010. Ibrahim Zakzaky introduced many Nigerians to Shia Islam. The headquarter of Shia is Zaria where the leader lives with his family. The Shia Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) was banned in Nigeria in 2019.
Sufi Some Nigerian Muslims emphasize asceticism and mysticism and form Sufi groups called tariqas, orders, or brotherhoods. They commonly preach peaceful co-existence and do not sympathize with Islamic extremism. Most Nigerian Sufis follow the Qadiriyya, Tijaniyyah or Mouride movement.
Ahmadiyya The Ahmadiyya movement established itself in Nigeria in 1916,Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosques Around the World, p. 95 and make up approximately 3% of the Muslim population. There are numerous Ahmadiyya centres in Nigeria including the Baitur-Raheem Mosque in Ibadan inaugurated in 2008,http://www.alislam.org report of Khalifatul Masih V’s West African tour the Mubarak Mosque in Abuja, which is the last Ahmadiyya mosque, built in the first century of the Ahmadiyya Caliphate.Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosques Around the World, p. 34 Ahmadiyyas have also established a weekly newspaper called "The Truth" which is the first Muslim newspaper in the country.Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosques Around the World, p. 99
Quraniyoon The Kala Kato are a Nigerian group of Quranists. Their name means "a mere man said it" referring to the narrators of the sayings of Muhammad. The Kalo Kato rely entirely on the Quran and they are found among mostly lower-class communities across northern Nigeria.
Boko Haram and Darul Islam
Islam in Nigeria has witnessed a rise in the numbers of Islamic extremism notably among them, the Boko Haram, Maitatsine, Darul Islam among others.
These sects have sometimes resorted to the use of violence in a bid to realizing their ambitions on the wider Islamic and Nigerian populations as a whole.
The rise of these radical movements has been attributed partly to the poor socio economic infrastructures and poor governance in Nigeria. Poverty has been seen as the major catalyst leading to the rapid increase in the membership of these religious extremist groups. The rise of these sects has also been linked to the increase and aiding of religious extremist by politicians for their selfish ambitions. In recent times, there has been break out of religious crises in the ancient city of Kano with scores of Christians dead and their properties destroyed.
During the 1980s, religious riots occurred in and around the five cities of Kano in 1980, Kaduna in 1982, Bulum-Ketu in 1982, Jimeta in 1984 and Gombe in 1985. These riots were caused by the migration of the rural poor into urban towns during the dry seasons. An offshoot of Islam called the ‘Yan Tatsine’ violently rebelled against the authorities and non-members. These radical Muslims were inspired by Alhaji Mohammed Marwa Maitatsine. He was a Cameroonian preacher who slammed the government, something which led to his arrest in Nigeria in 1975, yet by 1972 many people followed him across society, ranging from the elite to Koranic students called almajiral or gardawa and unemployed migrants. Maitatsine and his followers became separate from orthodox Islam, condemning the corruption of the religious and secular elites and the wealthy upper classes’ consumption of Western goods during the petrol boom in 1974–81.Paul M. Lubeck, "Islamic Protest under Semi-Capitalism: ‘ Yan Tatsine Explained", Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 55.4, (1985) 369-389, pp. 369–370 The Boko Haram movement has been connected to the Maitatsine movement. They want to implement Sharia law across the whole of Nigeria.Toni Johnson, "Boko Haram", Council on Foreign Relations, 31 August 2011, < http://www.cfr.org/africa/boko-haram/p25739 > [accessed on 1/11/2011]
Christianity