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PREDESTINATION
Predestinationis a term of many meanings. It is
the divine act of predetermining by which God
eternally decrees that which She or He intends to
bring to pass. In essence, people have no control
over events because these things are controlled
by God. The belief in predestination shows that
individuals are subject to variations in endow-
ment, fortune, and circumstances that are
beyond their control. People therefore attribute
these variations to the hand of God, who is
omnipotent and controls all.
The belief in predestination has no monopoly
in any religion or culture. Most religions of the
world are of the opinion that, prior to creation,
God had predestined the fate of men and women,
whereas some other religions hold the opposite
view that people determine their fate.
Not only is destiny a common feature in the
conception of a person in most African cultures; it
is also a fundamental part of the African tradi-
tional religion. It is believed that a person’s
destiny, whether by choice or imposition, prede-
termines for that person what he or she will be. It
further determines a person’s success, failure, per-
sonality, luck, and ill luck.
Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, for example, the
belief in predestination is depicted inIpin Ori—
Ori’s portion or lot. It is believed that anything
that happens to a man or woman on Earth, or any-
thing that a man or a woman does on Earth, has
been predestined even before their having come
into the world. People’s portion is predestined by
Olodumare—Almighty God. Predestination is
expressed in the following ways among the Yoruba
of Nigeria:Akunlegba—“that which is received
while kneeling” or Akunleyan—“that which is
chosen while kneeling,”Ayanmo—“that which is
affixed,”Adamo—“that which is affixed at cre-
ation,” andAkomo—“that which is written and
sealed.” The destiny is sealed and unalterable,
whatever a person does achieve, or whatever hap-
pens is a fulfillment of destiny.
Among the Ibos of Nigeria, it is believed that
each person haschi—a spiritual double given to
him by God before coming into the world. This is
an indication that humans have been predeter-
mined, and what a man or a woman becomes is
determined by his or her chi.
The Akan and Ga of Ghana believe that the
almighty sentsunsun—human essence or the per-
sonality soul—into humans and assigned them
their destiny. It is for this reason that the Akan
say: “The destiny given by God cannot be
avoided.” What this means is that what has been
predestined by God cannot be altered.
From the aforesaid, it can be seen that different
cultural groups believe that people have been pre-
destined by God before coming into the world.
However, the Urhobo of the Delta State of Nigeria
take a different view from the others. They are of
the opinion that humans predestine themselves
before coming to life. In other words, what a
person wishes to be in the world is determined by
the individual.
According to those groups, given that whatever
happens to people has been predestined by God,
efforts should be made to alter an unfavorable
destiny. The Urhobo too are said to pray to God
to help change a bad destiny, which is said to have
been chosen by the individual. In predestination,
there is both a human and a divine hand at work.Kunbi LabeodanSeealsoDestiny; GodFurther Readings
Awolalu, J. O., & Dopamu, P. A. (1979).West African
Traditional Religion. Ibadan, Nigeria: Onibonoje Press.
Nabofa, M. Y. (1978).ERHI:The Concept of Human
Double and the Paradox of Self-Predestination in the
Religion of the Urhobo. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.Predestination 535