Emancipating Africa through Morality and Good Work Ethics: A Study of the Holy Apostles of Ayétòrò Community, Ìlàjeland, Nigeria
Adégbọlá Tolú Adéfì, Ph.D; Olúségun Noah Ọláwọyin, Ph.D

Abstract
Ayétòrò, a Christian community in Ìlàjẹ area of Yorùbáland, Nigeria considers religion as a driving force in their daily living. Its inhabitants are as religious as most African nations. Unlike many African communities which are either insincere about true religion or hypocritical in their practice of it, Ayétòrò explored the benefits of religion and its virtues for their development. This research, a product of two ethnographic studies conducted fifty years apart, found that Ayétòrò’s devotion to the tenets of their faith and their proper understanding of religion supported them to industrialise. The paper argues that religion unlike it has been wrongly applied in many African societies could be deployed as Ayétòrò did to propel, uplift and orchestrate Africa from underdevelopment to becoming a developed region. It concludes that Africa could deploy religious pragmatism to her advantage rather than (mis)using the peoples’ inclination to faith to exploit and impoverish them.

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