Tasks NIREC on eroding mutual trust among different religions

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen George Akume, has expressed hope that Nigeria will soon exit the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) by the United States government.
 
Speaking at the second triannual meeting of the Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC) yesterday, in Abuja, Akume said Nigeria was passing through one of its most delicate periods, marked by heightened political rhetoric, internal security strains and degraded mutual trust that “was almost ebbing into religious conflict” in recent months. 
 
The SGF told the religious leaders that Nigeria was designated CPC by the government of the United States of America, which triggered a flurry of diplomatic and other critical activities aimed at addressing the narrative due to a wrong perception about the country’s situation. 
 
Akume revealed that President Bola Tinubu established a new U.S.–Nigeria Joint Working Group on Security, in which NIREC leaders were expected to play significant roles as part of wider non-kinetic approaches to peace.
 
He stated that much success had been recorded, but that much “more work needs to be done” on the short, medium and long-term basis, adding that the most worrisome part, which the government expected NIREC to address, was the erosion of mutual trust among adherents of different faiths as reflected in views expressed and the tone of such rhetoric.
 
The former governor of Benue State noted that having identified this as a weak link, the government expects that NIREC, as committed leaders of faith, shall at the meeting frankly discuss as a critical agenda and take steps that would help to claw back lost mileage in the area of eroded trust, unity, peaceful co-existence and collaboration.
 
He added that Tinubu was looking forward to workable recommendations on this charge, among other outcomes from this meeting.  He observed that the recent violent incidents from Yelwata in Benue to Eruku in Kwara, and attacks across Kebbi, Niger and Zamfara had deepened public anxiety, even as the government intensified rescue efforts and arrests of criminal elements responsible. 
 
Akume noted that Nigeria’s designation as a CPC by the U.S. government further underscored the need for stronger domestic engagement to correct global misperceptions. While diplomatic steps yielded progress, he said much more work must be done in the short and long term.
 
The SGF explained that while Christian and Muslim communities both suffered devastating losses from insurgency, banditry and communal violence, public narratives often wrongly portray the crises as one-sided and urged Nigerians to avoid framing violence solely along religious lines, insisting that such narratives deepen suspicion and undermine national cohesion.
 
He said: “I find it necessary to mention the narrative on genocide and the lack of contextualisation in it. The nature of violence in Nigeria has been viewed through the lenses of religion against one group or the other. The government pleads for caution in this regard. Admittedly, Christian communities in parts of our country have suffered horrific attacks,but so have Muslim communities. NIREC’s leadership has rightly pointed out that both Christians and Muslims have been victims of massacres in Nigeria. Independent analyses also confirm this position that Boko Haram and related insurgencies have killed thousands of people since 2009. 
 
“Likewise, in the banditry-ravaged North-West, citizens of Islamic faith have often been the primary victims of killings and kidnappings, while in parts of the North-Central, many victims of communal violence have been Christians, often farmers attacked in resource conflicts. Contextually, Nigeria is impacted by a global cum regional phenomenon and we must address these challenges at every level. The point is not to engage in a gruesome scorecard, but to underscore that violence in Nigeria is not monolithic or one-sided.”
 
On his part, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), who is also a Co-Chairman of NIREC, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, noted that the meeting came at a most critical moment in national history as Nigeria continues to grapple with insecurity that threatens our collective survival and national cohesion adding that banditry, kidnapping for ransom, violent extremism, and other forms of criminality have spread across the country, leaving behind sorrow, fear and displacement.
 
Also speaking, Co-Chairman of NIREC and the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Abubakar Sa’ad III, highlighted the need for sincerity in the dialogue between the different religions if they truly want the inter-religious dialogue to continue.
   
He said, “Let’s discuss, so that we agree on one issue: should this NIREC continue? As the founding fathers brought it into the world, do we continue NIREC? Do we continue these discussions?”