Support Youth to build Peace in Nigeria

On Saturday, November 29, 2014, New Era Educational and Charitable Support Foundation and Universal Peace Federation- Nigeria, in partnership with United Religions Initiative (URI-AFRICA) and the Bege Foundation, Jos, successfully hosted the 6th International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Dialogue and the Religious Youth Assembly, at the National Merit House, Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria.

The Conference was attended by 120 religious youth leaders and adult mentors from  Islam, Pentecostals, Eckankar, Rosicrucian Order, Catholics, Brotherhood of Cross and Star, the Unification Movement, Deeper Life and other faith based and interfaith civil society organizations, political and community leaders, etc.

The Theme of the 6th International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Dialogue was: “The Role of Religions to Build Peace, Security and Counter Violent Extremism in Africa”. The conference engaged the participants in a dynamic experience of faith development, challenged them to positively respond to the universal call to holiness as well as created and promoted interfaith collaboration, built bridges of trust, friendship and partnership among religiously diverse youth and provided a platform for local, national, regional and international collaboration. The 6th Conference on Youth and Interfaith Dialogue and the Religious Youth Assembly (RYA) ended with the resolution by religious youth leaders making a determination and commitment to work together beyond their religious denominations for the sake of national peace and unification.

After thorough deliberations on the presentations at the 6th International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Dialogue and the Religious Youth Assembly in Abuja, participants offered the following proposals:

• There is an urgent need for the establishment of a Federal Ministry for Interreligious Affairs and the creation of National Assembly committee on interreligious affairs to respondto religious issues
• The Federal Government of Nigeria needs to be commended for the establishment of the national mosque and national church in Abuja. However, there is the need to provide a platform for the recognition of the voices and activities of other religious groups in Nigeria and a national interreligious center should be established in Abuja and in each state of the nation as the worship place for all religious groups.
• The Ministry of Education needs to work with other stakeholders to develop a national curriculum on interreligious education for families, schools and worship centers
• To complement the efforts toward promoting national unity and integration through the National Youth Service Corps scheme, the UPF initiative of Religious Youth Service needs to be promoted and adopted by the religious institutions in Nigeria as a platform for religious youths to serve their communities and the nation and the government should consider integrating the Religious Youth Service scheme into the National Youth Service Corps scheme so that other youths in the country can have an opportunity for community service.
• There is an urgent need for the establishment of national interreligious youth council as the lower chamber for religious youth leaders engagement to complement the present efforts of the National Interreligious Council (NIREC) which has no youth representative at the moment
• A formal request should be made to the federal government of Nigeria to look into the issues of promoting interreligious pilgrimages and sponsorship of religious youth leaders to participate in the Interfaith peacebuilding courses to be trained as young interreligious leaders
• All religious groups in Nigeria should be mobilized to participate in the 2015 world interfaith harmony week in the first week of February 2015. Participants also expressed concern about the increasing wave of religious extremism and called on all religious youths in Nigeria to embrace dialogue as a strategy for resolution of conflicts instead of embarking on violent killing of fellow citizens.

At the Conference, three (3) individuals were recognized and honored with the PEACE HEROES AWARDS, for their outstanding efforts, work and commitment to peacebuilding, social justice and positive change in Nigeria. The Individuals were:

1. Alh. Salis Abdulsalam Muhammad, Founder/CEO of Displaced Women and Children Foundation/Face of Peace

1. Ema Miroslava Billings, Mediation Training Coordinator, Search for Common Grounds-Nigeria
2. Hon. Idris Halilu, Caretaker Chairman, Tafawa Balewa Local Government Council, Bauchi State, Nigeria

Links:

• Interfaith Conference Sponsorship