Interactive Interfaith Dialogue Meeting

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2022-01-31

Country: Nigeria
City: Abuja
SUMMARY ON WORLD INTERFAITH HARMONY WEEK REPORT UFUK Dialogue in collaboration with Nusret Educational and Cultural Company Ltd. hosted a program in commemoration of the โ€˜โ€™World Interfaith Harmony week 2022โ€™โ€™ between the 1st - 5th February 2022, at UFUK Dialogue. Ufuk Dialogue has started the campaign by recognizing the true heroes of Interfaith Harmony and respect for one's belief. This came in for of special recognition to Imam Abdullahi Abubakar the Chief Imam, Yalwan Gindi Akwat. Imam Abubakar Abdullahi is an 83-year-old Muslim cleric who hid 262 Christians in his home and mosque during an attack by herdsmen Gindiakwat, Plateau State in central Nigeria. The region is known for the religious tensions that frequently occur which lead to the loss of many lives and property. Also, it is known for the volatility and spontaneity of clashes between the predominantly Muslim Hausa the predominantly Christian Birom tribes in the state. The world has recognized Imam Abdullahi for providing shelter for hundreds of Christians fleeing attacks from Muslim herdsmen who had launched coordinated attacks on Christian farmers in 10 villages in the Barkin Ladi area of Plateau State on June 23, 2018. The activities spanned a duration of five days of hosting normal group meetings and discussion panels among peer groups and professionals on several major topic areas of peacebuilding in Nigeria. On the first day of the week, a group of veteran soldiers who visited participated in a panel that focused on issues involving peacebuilding, enforcement and the security agencies. Coming from the military and the National Defense College, they highlighted the need for synergy between respective stakeholders. As Ufuk Dialogue has a platform for the promotion of expertise in peace and conflict resolution, it collaborates with the Nile University of Nigeria to train peacebuilders in the postgraduate level in Conflict Peace and Strategic Studies, so far with over 161 beneficiaries and a pool of graduates, we held a seminar on updates on the status of peacebuilding in Nigeria and other opportunities for the engagement; through which the Alumni talked on the development of the values of Interfaith Harmony priority areas; love and tolerance, respect, mutual understanding, peaceful coexistence and the state of knowledge of peace that is leading to the development of national change. The Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice. (CPEJ) was hosted to reflect issues relating to orientation and reorientation of youths. Majorly, the area of focus was the education of youth in societies and how to implement the ideas so far. At another event, youth organizations (Muslim and Christian), Navy Officers, Judiciary and youth-led civil organizations met to discuss ways out of the status quo, the current situation of intolerance and disunity among the youth in the society. The need to bring the youth to the realm of societal reshaping was also discussed. The closing event took place on Saturday and it was in form of a talk with religious leaders, where a priest and an Imam talked about Interfaith harmony from the scriptures, how to promote peace and mutual understanding between different faiths followed by a session of questions by the audience and answered by the Religious leaders(Muslim/Christian) to develop and create a peaceful atmosphere for all Nigerians regardless of beliefs and culture the week ended with a dinner and barbeque cooked together to celebrate the World Interfaith Harmony week 2022, and promote togetherness.