Bridge Builders Association (BBA) Nigeria in collaboration with British High Commission (BHC) Abuja recently held an intensive capacity building workshop with leaders of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) from Plateau State. The workshop, which was held at the dialogue plaza in Kaduna State was a response to the after-local-government elections fracas that erupted in Jos on November 27 and 28, 2008- leading to untold killing and maiming of innocent souls, burning of houses and lifetime investments, and destruction of churches and mosques by both Christians and Muslims, as the crisis later took a religious dimension.

In a discussion with the 17 heads of organizations from Jos after opening prayers welcome address/remarks, the National Secretary of BBA: Mohammad Mahdi Shehu said that the organization came into being subsequent to the series of clashes and misunderstanding that had been between the major conflicting religions in Kaduna and other Northern States of the country. Deriving inspiration from the theme of the workshop: “Building Trust and Relationship: what role for you?” the secretary also stressed the need for Christians and Muslims representatives at the seminar to work in harmony and in the spirit of oneness to foster peace and atmosphere of progress and development through conflict resolution rather than violence, bridging of communication gasps and accepting to live together irrespective of their differences and commonalities. He diplomatically used a lot of illustrations and stories in his remarks, which added humor and color to his presentation.

Reading out his paper at the workshop, the chairman of Bridge Builders Association, Archbishop Josiah Idowu Fearon spoke extensively on the topic of “Interfaith Community Development: how feasible? What are the obstacles? And how do we surmount them?” Explaining further in his presentation, the chairman stressed (after referring to the Jos crisis as rather political, with clear religious dimension) that the purpose of creation, which is coexistence – in a country like Nigeria with pluralistic identity cannot be defeated. Therefore, both Christians and Muslims must learn to live together as one in every situation, since they are human beings and all have rights to exist. He also stated that the principle of pluralism respects a situation where all religions and ethnic groups have the right to live together as one and that Plateau and other conflicting states of Nigeria are no exception. Archbishop Fearon among Many things reiterated that both Christianity and Islam are universal, International and the core principle of pluralism and “The love for yourself and your neighbor” the central message of the book: “A common world”, which both the Bible and the Qua’ran preach must be adopted as our basis for living together for the purpose of peace and development. He rounded up by saying “the South African principle of Obuntu (peace, harmony and development) has to be vigorously pursued by all,” as he also quoted Sir Ahmadu Bello’s statement, “learning to understand our differences is core to having a well meaning society.”

The last presentation/lecture at the workshop was offered by Rev. J.J Hayyab, who is the current Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) secretary Kaduna state chapter. In his lecture on the theme, “Telling ourselves the whole truth,” the Reverend mentioned some of the causes of crisis such as the one in Jos Plateau State to be poverty, selfishness, fatherism, quest for wealth, inciters and use of careless words like Kaferi (unbeliever) : Arni (infidel) from both contending religions. He exclaimed that we always fight and kill ourselves because of “nothing” such as power and resources! And that the truth was that only few selfish individuals benefit from such unreasonable competition. CAN secretary also mentioned in his remark some of the reasons for crisis in our dear nation to be rumor mongering, wrong news in papers, TV and Radio, circulation of baseless text messages through mobile phones, extremism of defending religious beliefs, community or stereotype, political party/religion misconception, lack of integration amidst diversity and suspicion of one by the other as being an enemy.

Other highlights at the workshop included reading of a paper on the position of the British High Commission on the subject of discussion, identifying the real causes and proffering strategic solutions – by the commission’s representative, Mr. Richard. This was preceded by interactive sessions that featured questions and answers, opinions of participants on way-forward, fears and expectations: giving of recommendations, drafting of action plan, photo snap-shots, introductions, vote of thanks among others.