ABSTRACT

Religion is part and parcel of human existence, hence, it can be said that man is incurably religious and as such is described as homo-religiosus. With the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria (covid 19), which has its indelible marks in many countries of the world, there was a change and readjustment on every institution of society. Some of the institutions were closed down in order to prevent and reduce further outbreaks and casualties in society. In line of this, religion was not an exception because its practices were not left out in the sense that most of its gathering was suspended and if people, for any reason, should gather in the name of religion, a maximum number of persons are expected. This adversely affects religion and religious practices in Nigeria. It is against this backdrop that this paper is intended to examine how COVID-19 affected religious practices in Nigeria. The study will be using a phenomenological method and the theory of symbolic interactionism. The paper, therefore, discovers that COVID-19 has serious negative effects on religious practices. It also finds that with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent government order on how to curb it, religious practices bore some part of the problem. The paper concludes that in as inasmuch as covid 19 has a drastic effect on religious practices, it helps to call the religionist to order by putting more on him the consciousness that the supreme being is still in charge of the universe. The paper therefore recommends that people should not see the government order on suspension of some religious practices as being against the religious body but as a measure that must be taken in ensuring a reduction on the spread of the pandemic.