ABSTRACT
Religion can be understood as an outcome of social, political, and economic conditions as well as a cause of change. Where religious changes are produced or affected by political integration or economic growth, religious changes in turn have their influence. The impact of world religions in Nigeria has to be seen historically, and often mediated through political administrations and values. Nigeria is in many important respects an atypical African country. Its population of more than 85 million is much larger than that of most African countries. Nigeria shares many features of poor developing countries, although they are distorted by the oil boom. In the short run the oil boom worsened the distribution of Nigeria's income. Before turning to the relationship between economic change and religious values, one further structural change in the Nigerian economy must be discussed—indigenization.
