Preach Love, Peaceful Co-existence- NHRC Tasks Religious Leaders

The National Human Rights Commission NHRC, has tasked religious leaders on the need to preach peace and unity in their various churches, mosques and communities for national development.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr.Tony Ojukwu who made the call in Abuja, at an Awareness and Sensitization Program for Religious Leaders said it was aimed at deepening understanding of human rights principles and exploring strategies for peace building and effective conflict resolution.

Dr. Ojukwu, who was represented by the Head of Monitoring Department of the Commission, Mr Benedict Agwu said the program was aimed at engaging in an open dialogue and sharing experience to build a society where justice prevails, religious differences respected and peace sustained.

“Religious Leaders have always played a pivotal role in shaping moral values guiding conscience and fostering unity “as your voices carries immense weight in your communities as your teachings influence millions to uphold dignity, compassion and mutual respect.”

“The world is often divided by conflicts inequality and misunderstanding so, religious leaders have a crucial role to play in bridging the divide and advocating for fundamental human rights of individuals. The NHRC amendment Act 2012 has the broad mandate to promote, protect and enforce human rights of everyone in Nigeria”.

“The commission has taken pro-active steps in monitoring the impact of conflicts on human rights across the federation especially in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Plateau and Benue states to protect the human rights of IDPs, detainees, refugees and asylum seekers”.

On his part, the National Director for Education, Youth & Women Development, Christian Association of Nigeria CAN, Rev Ozumba Nicodemus explained that protection of human rights is everyone’s responsibility.

According to him, in bridging the gap, religious institutions must educate their followers on the need to respect each other’s religion.

He, however, stressed that the world is often divided by conflicts, inequality and misunderstanding, hence he urged religious leaders to play a more crucial role in bridging the divide and advocating for fundamental rights of all individuals.

“Religious Leaders have to be sincere with each other by enforcing discipline and calling to order the extremists both in Islam and Christianity to avoid misleading followers as many problems we have today is generated through religious and ethnic conflicts, Nicodemus added”.

Also speaking, the Deputy Chief Imam of Muslim Community Center Mosque, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, Imam Tamim Yusuf Al-Hassan said there was need for religious leaders to be educated to interpret the scriptures correctly to avoid conflicts, misunderstanding, disharmony and intolerance.

“Religious tolerance is a very important issue, especially in a very religious country like Nigeria where followers trust their leaders and follow them innocently and blindly, believing that whatever they say is final ;

“Human rights is very key as far as Islam is concerned so, we need to peacefully co-exist irrespective of our religion, tribe and ethnicity so, it’s better to respect and treat other people’s religion same way you want yours to be treated. Imam Al-Hassan added.

Garry Ochigbo, Edited By Grace Namiji