Church versus the Theatre in Nigeria and the Triumph of Independent Churches

There is no doubt that the arrival of the Church in mid-nineteenth century was contributory to the gradual decline of African traditions for all times. Christian evangelism at the time has the clue. The humanitarian impulse that led to the evangelization of Africa not withstanding, missionary zeal in Africa leading to the rise of churches was no less suppressive of these traditions of African people. In this paper, we take a look at how in the colonial era the European Missions laid the foundation for the overthrow of Nigeria’s performance culture but which the Independent Churches restored. It traced the pattern of importation of musical equipment by the new breed churches into the country for religious worship and dropping the local instruments. The economic implication of this encounter is therefore an issue in this study