Goodwill Message to NIREC by Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, Metropolitan Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), at the Opening Session of the First Triannual 2025 Meeting of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), Holding at Rock View Hotel, Owerri on 30 April 2025
1. I thank God for bringing the members of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) safely from far and near to Owerri, the Imo State Capital, for their first triannual 2025 meeting. I thank you for your choice of Owerri as the venue of your meeting. As I welcome you to the beautiful city of Owerri, I wish you a fruitful deliberation at your assembly. Please try to make out time from your busy agenda to enjoy the legendary hospitality of the good people of Imo State.
2. As children of God, Christians and Moslems are brothers and sisters, who belong to the same human family. We share a lot together in our religious beliefs. Together, we believe in God and worship Him, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to men. Both Christians and Muslims strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of God, just as Abraham, whom we mutually revere, submitted himself to God’s plan. Furthermore, both Christians and Muslims await the day of judgement and the reward of God following the resurrection of the dead. For this reason, Christians and Muslims highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting (cf. Vatican Council II, Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate, no. 3). Our belief in our common brotherhood and our esteem for upright life should always find concrete expression in our living together in harmony and peace as one family and relating to one another with mutual love and trust.
3. The theme of your meeting: “Building Mutual Trust for National Unity” is not only apt it is also timely, especially when viewed against the background of ethno-religious conflicts and tensions that often tear our nation apart. Building mutual trust among Christians and Muslims in Nigeria calls for a change of mind-set and a sincere attempt to rid ourselves of old prejudices, animosities, hate speech and hateful attitudes. No doubt, acrimonies and conflicts have arisen between Christians and Muslims in our country in the past. Our effort to build mutual trust calls for mutual forgiveness and reconciliation. We must forget past hurts and make sincere efforts to strive after mutual understanding and cooperation for the sake of sustainable national unity, harmony and progress. This will entail sustained efforts to overcome pride, self-righteousness, suspicion, prejudice, and distrust, which have helped to deepen the wounds of division among Christians and Muslims in our country. Above all, it demands shunning all forms of deceit, insincerity, and intolerance in our relationship with one another.
4. It would also involve Christian and Muslim leaders making joint statements when necessary under the umbrella of NIREC to denounce religious extremism and fanaticism as well as criminals who put on religious togas to commit heinous crimes such as wanton shedding of human blood, kidnapping for ransom, raping of women, destruction of farms and sources of livelihood, violent attacks on Churches and Mosques in the country, arson, displacing of communities and taking over of their ancestral lands. Those involved in such atrocious acts are criminals, and have to be strongly denounced irrespective of their religious or ethnic affiliations. As religious leaders, we must cry out together as our brothers and sisters are brutally slaughtered by criminal and terrorist groups. Their innocent blood cries out to us. We cannot be silent and passively watch the carnage taking place in our different communities. If we fail to denounce evil, we make ourselves accomplices. We must stand together and take it up with our political leaders.
5. A sincere attempt to building mutual trust among Christians and Muslims in Nigeria should lead us to adopt an attitude of heart and mind which moves us to relate with one another with respect, understanding and hope: with respect, because we recognise one another as brothers and sisters and regard one another as friends rather than foes; with understanding, because we sincerely seek to discover the truths and values we share in common as well as recognise the difference in faith that lies between us; with hope that we may grow together in a more perfect knowledge and love of God and strive after a life of uprightness to which our religions invite us. Indeed, building up trust among the adherents of our religions involves the readiness to cooperate and collaborate sincerely with one another, individually and collectively. It also involves our mutual respect for freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.
6. In conclusion, I wish to stress that we are very worried about the rising level of violence and insecurity, resulting in senseless shedding of blood. We are in great pain seeing the ever increasing population of displaced families suffering and languishing from hunger in internally displaced people (IDP) camps across the nation. In the face of all these, we, religious leaders, under the platform of NIREC have to promote peace and be seen as instruments of peace and harmony. We have to fight hard against extremism and fanaticism and make our own the spirit of fraternity and peace expressed in the historic “Document on Human Fraternity and Living Together” signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019 by Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el Tayeb, when they stated: “We resolutely declare that religions must never incite wars, hateful attitudes, hostility and extremism, nor must they incite violence or the shedding of blood”. Thanks for your attention.
