Background: Persistent underdevelopment across African nations has been increasingly attributed to a "civic expectancy-prayer paradigm" wherein populations exhibit passive reliance on divine intervention, external assistance, or government benevolence rather than active civic engagement in addressing collective challenges. While religiosity remains central to African cultural identity, the predominance of prayer as a primary response to development problems, often excluding concrete civic action, raises questions about the cultural and psychological foundations of sustainable development. Objective: This study examined the relationship between religious orientation, civic agency, and development outcomes in African contexts, identifying psychological and social mechanisms through which the civic expectancyprayer paradigm operates and exploring pathways for its reversal. Methods: A mixed-methods design combined quantitative survey data from 3,600 respondents across six African countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa) with 120 qualitative interviews conducted between January and September 2024. The structured questionnaire measured religious orientation dimensions (intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity, theological fatalism, religious practice frequency), psychological mediators (locus of control, individual self-efficacy, collective efficacy), and civic engagement indicators (political participation, community involvement, collective action). Data analysis employed univariate descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and structural equation modeling to test hypothesized mediation pathways. Results: Univariate analysis revealed high levels of religious commitment (intrinsic religiosity M=4.23, SD=0.78) and theological fatalism (M=3.89, SD=0.85) coexisting with external locus of control (M=3.76, SD=0.81) and belowmidpoint civic engagement across all dimensions (political participation M=2.45, community involvement M=2.67, collective action M=2.34). Bivariate correlations demonstrated that theological fatalism was strongly negatively associated with internal locus of control (r=-.52, p