Religion greatest threat to Nigeria’s quest for peace, stability’

Although the Nigerian society is greatly polarised along with a variety of fault lines, none threatens its peace and stability more than religion.

This is the assertion of a non-governmental organisation, The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy.

Speaking at an inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue in Jos yesterday, the coordinator, Dr. Chido Onumah, however, noted that the quest by Nigeria to attain greatness was still possible.

The occasion was used to launch a training manual for religious leaders on promoting peace in the age of social media.

Onumah pointed out that the government’s response to the rising tension in the country by trying to pass a law to regulate the social media would not solve the problem.

“What the country needs to address the challenge is more education and empowerment of its citizens. There is the urgent need to use media and information literacy in this era of information and communication technology and internet revolution to change the behaviour of opinion moulders in the society,” he stated.

Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, who was the special guest at the event, warned Nigerian universities against awarding certificates to persons with questionable character.

He lamented that the award of certificates to persons with the dubious character had caused great damage to the country’s quest for peace and progress.

Abari said, “The universities must emphasise character in the award of certificates. If you award degree certificate to someone with first-class but without character, it is dangerous for nation-building and that is why NOA has deemed it fit to take the campaign to our higher institutions in our quest for societal peace and progress.”

Represented by the Plateau State Director of NOA, Mr. Bulus Dabit, the DG noted that both Christian and Muslim leaders “have great roles to play” in ridding the society of vices.

He pointed out that as a people who play teaching and guiding roles in their societies, there was a need for them to always expose criminals in their midst as well as develop media and information literacy competence in line with modern realities.