INTER-RELIGIOUS COUNCIL OF SIERRA LEONE

INTER-RELIGIOUS COUNCIL OF SIERRA LEONE

3RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY

8TH DECEMBER, 2020, BANK COMPLEX, KINGDOM, FREETOWN

 

STATEMENT ON THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS 

IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL COHESION

Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua

When I was growing up my father said to me, “My son, no matter how you kill an ant, there must be a mark. Wherever you are and whatever you may be, always leave behind a positive mark. Let those coming after you know that somebody had passed this way.” My mother said to me, “I made you to love your enemies so that you can grow gracefully without hatred in your heart. You need a pure heart and mind to be great when you become a matured man.”We live in a particular cultural and national milieu not by our free choice but because that is where we are born. The content of each person’s character depends therefore on parental, cultural, religious and national upbringing. Leadership is key to national development and social cohesion. One of the strategies of the terrorists and mischief makers is to ignite a religious conflict that could lead to religious war. 

What has saved Nigeria from total annihilation is the resilience of the religious leaders to be together and speak truth to power. The representative of the two Principal Religions, Islam and Christianity in Nigeria voluntarily decided to form the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) on the 11th day of September, 1999. On the 29th day of September, 1999, NIREC was inaugurated to promote peaceful co-existence. NIREC is a visible sign of the interests and effort of the Federal Government of Nigeria to foster unity, harmony and peace for the welfare, security and prosperity of the Nigerian citizens irrespective of religious affiliation. 

Because NIREC works to promote the mission of Government to attain peace, the government in return supports NIREC to carry out the main objective of peacebuilding. The office space of the Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC) is provided by government in the Federal Secretariat of Nigeria,Abuja. The Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (OSGF) finances the activities of NIREC. The Staff of NIREC are paid by government. However, Governments respect the autonomy of NIREC as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). Religious leaders are highly respected and their opinions are also respected. One of the major achievements of NIREC since 1999 is to counter the strategy of the terrorists and mischief makers who want to cause religious disharmony, war and confusion through hate speeches and physical attacks on religious institutions and persons. Seeing the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who are the Co-Chairmen of NIREC urgently debunk the erroneous and ugly impression that Christians and Muslims are at war or that Christianity and Islam are in conflicts. 

NIREC, like all National Inter-religious Councils is affiliated to the Religions for Peace (RfP) whose headquarter is in New York, USA and Africa Council of Religious leaders whose headquarters is in Nairobi, Kenya. Nigeria is the headquartersof the West Africa Inter-religious Council. As the Secretary General of this Council, I am here in response to your invitation. In the same way, West Africa Inter-religious Council is ready and willing to assist other West Africa Countries to establish or promote their various Inter-Religious Councils. On Friday, November 13, 2020, on behalf of the West Africa Inter-Religious Council, the staff of NIREC had a meeting with Prof. Leopoldo Amado, Commissioner of Education, Science and Culture of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Commissioner pledged to support the West Africa Inter-Religious Council. 

When I was representing Africa in the Vatican as Consultor in the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims (CRRM), I discovered that Sierra Leone is a role model in Muslim/Christian relations. “Judging from the Sierra Leone situation, religious cooperation can be recommended as a useful mechanism for conflict resolution, in societies which share similar historical and social orientations.The nature of religious tolerance and cooperation in the Sierra Leone context serves as a check on fundamentalism and religious bigotry. This value can be exported to other parts of the region as a lesson for safeguarding society from the ills and excesses of religious conflict. In every society, whether affluent or developing, religion should serve as the conscience of the people. Thus, religious leaders should always and at all times be the conscience of the people and the voice of the voiceless.

Peace is a global project hence; the various governments need to support Inter-religious projects like the Inter-religious Council of Sierra Leone. During the 10th world assembly in August 2019, in Lindau, Germany, the Federal Foreign Office in Germany officially inaugurated “The Foundation Peace Dialogue of the World Religions and Civil Society (Ring for Peace) in Lindau.  Similarly, I request and plead with the Federal Government of Sierra Leone to support the Inter-religious Council of Sierra Leone. The core values and mission of IRCSL are to promote interfaith dialogue, peaceful co-existence in communities and provide spiritual, moral guidance to the people. These values have been sustained for twenty-three years. Sierra Leone will develop more if itsgovernment assume parental responsibility and take advantage of this vibrant Inter-religious Council. 

The world is becoming more sophisticated with weapons of mass destruction like: nuclear arms, chemical weapons, biological weapons, land mines, cluster bombs, assassination drones, depleted uranium, white phosphorus shells, heavy bombs, fuel air explosives, particle weapons, and other exotic weapons. Today COVID 19 is associated with biological weapon that has put the whole world at risk. The African Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL) and Religions for Peace (RfP) have encouraged every nation to sign the United Nations treaty against nuclear weapons. We should go beyond this to ensure that the value of weapons for mass destruction is used for human development. Religious and Political leaders must continue to insist on the control of world trade in arms and armaments. We must join our voices and actions in animating the world powers on the need to develop non-violent means of defence. Let us pledge ourselves to peace through justice; let us take a solemn decision, now, that war will never be tolerated or sought as a means for resolving differences. We must not give up until every human heart is converted from hatred to the peace that God had destined for humanity. May all leaders cooperate with God in achieving this noble vision. 

 

Fr. Prof. Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua is the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) and the Secretary General of the West Africa Inter-religious Council. He was the Director of the Department of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria and a Consultor in the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims, Vatican City.

2