Managing The Business Of Faith And Religion In Nigeria by @9jaclicktivist

Nigeria is populous and it houses a lot of religion and allows a equal playing and growing ground for each religion and believes but despite its size, there is hardly any expertise in promoting efficiency in the religious sector

The understanding of the concept of leisure is fundamental to the designing of interventions for the modern economy. There are various estimates of the business available in the ‘leisure sector’. Leisure business is spread from harnessing visual to audio to gastronomical delights and more. Put simply, catering to the six senses is the business of leisure.

The number six should not be taken too literally. Spiritual and religious practices have progressively emerged as a major factor in filling up leisure space. Spirituality/religiosity can also be a big business, Yes a legitimate one and not all this deceiving and deceitful religious houses around towns type of business.

Together, spirituality combined with religious fervor provides livelihood to millions over the world. Consider how all the places of worship are flush with money, yet some of then fails to pay tax to the government. That alone is significant but the seminality is further enhanced by a simple fact of civil society: Earnings from spiritual or religious practices are not taxed. Hence every Naira earned in this manner goes farther than earned through other modes .The economists are yet to wake up to this reality and factor it into the prevailing economic model

The consulting firms are full of the manufacturing sector, ‘the transportation sector,’ the telecoms sector’ and much more,the list is endless. Hardly any one of them has claimed any expertise in promoting efficiency in the spiritual or religious sector.

The proposition being made  is simple. Spiritual or religious organisations also have to perform and they have sector-specific efficiency characteristics and traits .They require sector-specific evaluation parameters. Else the comfort of the user will be hit.

We sometimes cause confusion of categories because we mix intellect with emotion and emotion with religious fervour .This confusion is in other areas also. Corporate Social Responsibility is often confused with philanthropy, and both with the “higher purpose of the organisations”.

Even in the corporate world, inputs in the manufacturing sector will be confused with inputs to create a basic infrastructure. In turn, these processes are confused with the social justice and emancipation of the “communities exploited through centuries”. One would think the matter would be closed there but not quite. All this will have an overlay of issues such as gender parity and representation of women.

Each one of these causes is by themselves unexceptionable. No sane person will quarrel with equity or social justice or female representation. But that is not the point.

The point is, growth of manufacturing requires a certain approach, and investment in infrastructure another approach. Investment in manufacturing must lead to profits. Investment in infrastructure very often draws upon tax payer’s money.

How can the organisations in the two categories be evaluated in a similar manner? The consulting firms, individual, national or global need to have an answer.

The tragedy is that most advisories try to sell in overcrowded areas. Clarity of approach and sensitive delineation of the line between category of enterprises is needed. In this manner , everyone would gain, the revenues and the happiness quotient all around would be upbeat.

That, however, requires clarity. Some day when we are through with the fetish of slogan mongering “innovation”, we will have settled down to deal with more tangible demands of excellence in the routine and the ordinary. That would require clarity and simple action. These are rare abilities but they are worth developing.