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ABSTRACT
Witchcraft is defined as the art of sorcery, Social Development is the act of improving and relating to human society and its members, while Benin Kingdom is located in the Southern forests of West Africa and formed by the Edo people. A bulk of research states that witchcraft is an antithesis to development. This work finds that it’s an assumption, which cannot explain the case of the Benin Kingdom. The result of this work has the implication that witchcraft may indeed exist in a modern developed setting, that people in the west/North could have witchcraft beliefs as well, and that witchcraft does not have to be valued negatively. To arrive at this conclusion witchcraft as a personal and social phenomenon was plucked apart, and then juxtapose against different concepts of development. Benin actually believed in the existence of witchcraft, witches were the implacable enemies of the society in which they live. Witches were said to be very potent and were thought to be responsible for all sorts of misfortunes, accidents, still-born, children, sudden death, poverty, bareness and a host of other human misfortunes and miseries. The main findings of this work included witchcraft belief has a story and significant impact on social, economic and religion development of any nations; witchcraft belief is contrasted with social, personal and economic development, at the end is demonstrated that there is no negative connection between any of these forms of development and the social function of witchcraft belief. Qualitative methods was used, Data collection was done through interviews, online materials, journals and text books. The research encourages government at all levels to effectively regulate the activities of witchcraft in order to enhance their benefit which include; witchcraft incantations can induce painless delivery by a pregnant woman.
