CULTISM AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF MGBUITANWO COMMUNITY IN EMOHUA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE

The study examined Cultism and Community Development: A Case Study of Mgbuitanwo Community in Emohua local Government Area of Rivers State, a descriptive design was adopted for the study. It attempted to critically examine cultism and its effects on the community development of Emohua people (Mgbuitanwo Community in particular). The background of the study threw light on the meaning of cultism and how cults groups are formed, its activities of disrupting the development of a community. The researcher also went ahead to give a brief geographical and historical account of Emohua. The Relative Deprivation theory by Ted Gurr was used by the researcher. Four (4) research questions and four (4) hypotheses were used to guide the study. The instrument used to obtain data was a nineteen item structured questionnaire which was administered to a total number of 400 respondents but only 370 was successfully retrieved and used for the work. The first section of the instrument majored on the demographic data of the respondents (i.e.age, gender, occupation, educational level, duration in the community) while others majored on eliciting relevant information vital to the study like the existence of cultism in the community, etc. The findings revealed that various cult groups are found in the community and its effects include economic retardation, loss of lives, destruction of properties, etc. Based on the findings of the study the researcher recommended community leaders and government at all levels ( i.e local, State, Federal) should put in more efforts in adequately educating the young people on the dangers of cultism, they should also make efforts in eradicating the causes of cultism like poverty, unemployment, etc through the creation of job. Finally, laws should be enacted and implemented to punish politicians that promote violence during elections if possible, let them be bound from politics.