Peace and unity as tools for development

It is not our differences that create disharmony, conflicts or religious/ethnic crises. Rather it is the large intolerance and un-willingness to accept each other as one family and brothers in humanity.

We need to accept one another, and love our fellow mankind, we don’t have to agree with each other; but we shouldn’t disparage other’s belief and culture or make them feel sore. We should be tolerant in all our interactions and activities with each other because it is only God the Almighty who knows why he created us as “Different”. And He also knows the impact of grouping us into different ethnic groups and divided us in different parts of the world and countries. God the Almighty has the power to create the whole human beings on earth as Muslims only, or Christians only, but he didn’t do that, because he does everything according to his own wish and style.

Whenever I see the pandemic of religious intolerance and bloodshed happening in our midst just because of the natural existing differences, I always become infuriated. This is because we lack the orientation to simply grasp that human beings are naturally created not to be the same in life. Therefore, people should learn that knowledge is understanding and understanding leads to accommodating everybody irrespective of his/her differences.

A major problem in Nigeria is religious intolerance and this is because some people lack adequate and proper knowledge and understanding of other people’s religion.

It is not for me and you to judge another man’s life because I am not assigned by God to do that, and likewise you. There is this saying: It is not for me to judge another man’s life. If I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself; for myself, alone -Anonymous.

Promoting national unity and integration is the responsibility for all of us regardless of our differences in Nigeria, the government, civil society organizations, and individuals should be heavily involved in promoting national unity.

Indeed, it is now time for us to move beyond tolerance and proceed into accommodating ourselves and “Mutual Respecting of Our Differences”. This is because we are one and are brothers given birth in the same land. Even with the existing differences in our midst, but we should consider that Nigeria is our motherland, and is above all of us, and the love and sympathy of the country should come first in our heart. It is a fact that no matter how religious devoted someone is, he/she wouldn’t be comfortable to practice his/her religious activities if there is no peace. No one would be confident to go the Mosque or Church.

We need to understand that Nigeria is our unifying factor and ground, which will enable us to practice our legitimate social, religious, and political duties and right. And we also need to understand that, violence will never help in proffering solutions to our grievances and problems except via dialogue, peace building, and rapprochement.
The religious, traditional, and political leaders should do more than enough in order to change the mindset of people towards public engagement with diverse communities owing to the apparent fact that the incitement is mostly engineered by these leaders.

Some of these leaders are sentimental and biased, just to achieve their selfish and personal gains, albeit, there are large number of good ones still on earth. But, there should be a painstaking effort designed to abate the upsurge of provoking people to engage in violence. This is by checking the activities of the aforementioned leaders, and if possible, creating regulations on public speech.
One of the great contributing factors which trigger people into violence is through the overbearing influence of traditional, political, and religious leaders. May God help us and make Nigeria a better place for us.

Jabir T. Usman
Kaduna South, Kaduna

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