5 days ago
Prayer Camps Transform Nigeria’s Lagos-Ibadan Highway Into Spiritual Cities
The road between Lagos and Ibadan is crowded and has been poorly maintained for many years.
It is also lined with large religious communities called prayer camps.
These camps are run by Christian, Muslim and other religious groups.
They provide places to pray, but also schools, hospitals, shops, hotels and homes.
The biggest one is Redemption City, where many people live and worship.
Some Muslims and Christians borrow ideas from each other’s ceremonies.
Some people visit different religious groups when looking for healing, success or spiritual help.
These camps have helped create new towns outside the biggest cities.
They also show that different faiths in Nigeria can sometimes mix and live close together.
The 127-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has become known as Nigeria’s “spiritual highway” because of its many prayer camps.
More than 30 religious organisations have established large camps along the route since the 1980s.
The camps provide services including electricity, healthcare, education, banking, housing, hotels, restaurants and shopping.
Redemption City, founded by the Redeemed Christian Church of God in 1983, is the largest camp and has about 250,000 residents.
Christian, Muslim, Hindu and African religious practices overlap along the highway, encouraging worshippers to move between traditions.
- Who
- More than 30 religious organisations, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fathi Society of Nigeria and Satguru Maharaj Ji’s movement.
- What
- Prayer camps have developed into large, service-providing religious settlements and urban centres along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
- Where
- Along Nigeria’s 127-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, between Lagos and Ibadan.
- When
- The camps have expanded since the 1980s; Redemption City was founded in 1983 and the Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fathi Society camp opened in 2000.
- Why
- Religious groups sought room to expand, responded to demand for spiritual and practical services, and filled gaps in urban infrastructure and public services.
Religious Organisations As Urban Builders
Religious Expansion As A Sign Of State Retreat
Provision of urban services
Religious Organisations As Urban Builders
The camps create orderly, secure communities by investing in electricity, water, waste management, healthcare, education, housing and other services.
Religious Expansion As A Sign Of State Retreat
The growth of these privately organised settlements reflects the state’s reduced role in urban development after structural adjustment, neoliberal reforms and the privatisation of state functions.
Religious boundaries
Religious Organisations As Urban Builders
The proximity of Christian, Muslim and other camps encourages mutual borrowing, coexistence and movement between religious spaces.
Religious Expansion As A Sign Of State Retreat
Some groups maintain distinct religious identities and teachings; for example, Satguru Maharaj Ji rejects Christianity and Islam as foreign imperial faiths and promotes an alternative spiritual path.
Key facts
- Road length
- The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway stretches 127 kilometres.
- Religious organisations
- More than 30 organisations have established prayer camps along the route since the 1980s.
- Largest camp
- Redemption City is a 3,500-hectare site located 46 kilometres from Lagos.
- Redemption City population
- The camp has about 250,000 residents and an estimated half a million workers.
- Monthly gathering
- Redemption City’s monthly Holy Ghost Service attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers.
- Muslim camp
- The Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fathi Society of Nigeria opened its camp in 2000 and holds a monthly asalatu gathering.
- Hindu and African traditions
- Near Ibadan, Satguru Maharaj Ji’s 40-hectare ashram combines African religious traditions, Hinduism and Rastafarianism.
Quotes
An official from the Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fathi Society of Nigeria
Official representing the Muslim organisation that established a prayer camp along the expressway.
“We didn’t want to be left behind by the Pentecostal churches, so we followed their example and bought land along the expressway … We are investing heavily in developing our camp.”
scroll.in
“Guru Maharaj Ji teaches us practical exercises for a better life. His knowledge is divine; it’s not book knowledge.”
scroll.in
Sources
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