The Challenge of Religious Violence in Nigeria: Implications for International Peace And Security

In Nigeria, religion [Islam] seem to have become a practical pretext for savage intolerance, incomprehensible arson, torture and mass murder, targeting mainly Christians and their properties in several cities of northern and most recently central Nigeria. An emblematic historical example is the inferences from 1987, when a major religious violence erupted in the northern city of Kaduna between Moslems and Christians, popularly known as the Maitasine Riots. In view of the above analogy, this paper employed the interdisciplinary theories that best explain multi-layered and cross-sectional problems such as religious violence in Nigeria, and with its attendant ethno-religious, economic, social-cultural and political undertones; and attempts to provide a historical examination of the nature and chronology of religious violence in Nigeria, and a narrative insight into the question: why has religious violence persisted in Nigeria? And, what are the implications of religious violence on international peace and security? It adopted a survey method based on the perception of citizens and Government officials regarding religious violence. In all, 150 questionnaires were distributed randomly to respondents. A total of 100 questionnaires were retrieved from the survey and used as the total sample size. The study used both Pie-Charts and Chi-square goodness of fit-test to analyze the data. The study has revealed that religious violence in Nigeria serve as a double-edge sword that has either facilitated violent or peaceful activism for change not only at the national and regional level but also at the international level. The study concludes that religious leaders and government officials in Nigeria should have good opportunity to choose from supporting violent or peaceful activism with its attendant implications. Keywords: Religious Violence, International Peace and Security