Negotiating the Impacts of Economic Limitations on the Nigerian Economy and Their Effects on Consecrated Life: Analysis and Solutions.
This article examines the complex relationship between economic conditions and the practice of consecrated life across Africa, especially in Eastern Nigeria. Through a qualitative interpretive approach utilizing in-depth interviews with 18 religious sisters from two congregations, this research documents how economic instability such as poverty, funding inadequacies, rising insecurity, global economic forces and cultural tensions, directly affects consecrated life members. The research reveals that economic pressures significantly impact vocational formation, community sustainability, and the prophetic witness of consecrated persons. It also reveals other significant challenges, which include the negotiation of cultural identity between Western religious formations and Nigerian communitarian values, and security concerns limiting apostolic work. This research contributes to the ongoing scholarly discussion on inculturation and economic sustainability of Consecrated Life in Africa by providing empirical evidence from the Eastern Nigerian context and proposing recommendations for more culturally-grounded and economically viable forms of religious life. It proposes a tripartite solution: fostering economic empowerment through professional formation and collaborative initiatives, implementing strategic structural reforms for financial accountability and sustainability, and deepening the authentic inculturation of the evangelical counsels within the African socio-cultural context. It concludes that a proactive and theologically coherent response to economic challenges is indispensable for the vitality and future of Consecrated Life in Eastern Nigeria and Africa at large.
Keywords: Consecrated Life, Africa, Economic Conditions, Poverty, Financial Sustainability, Inculturation, Religious Life, Vocational Formation, Solutions.