University of Jos - Nigeria
UNIJOS CHARGED TO ESTABLISH CENTRE FOR INTERFAITH STUDIES
A Professor of Systematic Theology, Bethel University, United States of America, Professor Victor Ezigbo has charged the University of Jos to establish a Centre for Interfaith Development Studies that would enable it conduct research aimed at proffering solution to religious conflicts in Plateau State.
Professor Ezigbo said the University is strategic and can bring the right people to deploy forces and opportunities to deal with religious conflicts. Ezigbo gave the challenge while delivering a public Lecture organized by the Faculty of Arts in collaboration with the University’s Advancement office entitled “From spear of Violence to a Balm of Peace: Discerning Religious Communities, Healing Powers for Addressing Religious Violence in Nigeria”. He said religion does not exist in abstract but is a product of people living in communities which is why mode of religious practice differs from one community to another.
Professor Ezigbo admonished Nigerians irrespective of religious background, to engage in interfaith dialogue in order to spread the message of peaceful co-existence.
The Vice-Chancellor, University of Jos, Professor Seddi Sebastian Maimako who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Teresa Nmadu thanked the organizers and Guest Lecturer for the choosing an appropriate topic that proffers possible solutions to issues of communal and ethno-religious conflict in the country. He said the University had established a Centre for Conflict Management and Peace Studies but would look at the possibility of establishing an inter-faith Development Centre as requested by the Guest Lecturer.
Also speaking at the Lecture, the Vice-Chancellor represented by the Executive Director, Advancement office, Mr. Yakubu Gomos said the University is open to all and offers formal academic training to persons from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Gomos stressed that the University would continue to promote religious co-existence through Public Lectures, Research and strategic Community Relations.
He applauded the Guest Lecturer for providing proper enlightenment on the topic and prayed God to continue to unite Nigerians irrespective of their ethnic and religious background.
Speaking earlier, Chairman of the occasion and Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Gashua, Professor Andrew Haruna said God created us all to co-exist in peace and there was no compulsion in religion. According to him, everyone has the right to their choice of religion and people must learn to respect others’ religion.
Professor Haruna frowned at a situation where people use religion as a pretext for extra-judicial killings and violence saying neither Christianity nor Islam permits such actions. Haruna stressed that experience over time has shown that people’s loyalty to religious and ethnic affiliations is above national interest which is a major contributory factor to the manipulation of ethnicity and religion for selfish ends. He therefore charged Nigerians to make it a point of duty, not to allow people with selfish interests to influence them negatively. He strongly supported the need for the establishment of an Interfaith Development Centre in Nigeria that would continue to preach the need for tolerance and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians. Professor Haruna said if Nigerians must co-exist peacefully, all ethnic groups and religious faiths must see themselves as siblings in the service of God.