Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in Lagos State: Its Formation, Impact and Challenges

Abstract

About two decades of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) has been more than plausible in solving the problems emanating from various religious groups and personalities. This, to a large extent, puts the Council in a proper stead to stem the tide even before issues are unfolded. The Council prices well in the hand of relative Government particularly at the time when bigotry, extremism and terrorism in the name of religion bite harder. As a formation that follows the trend of events at all times and in all places the council has achieved tremendously. Lagos State Government always collaborates with the Council to ensure relative peace is enjoyed despite the volatile nature of the citizenry in the State. The aim of this paper is not only to present NIREC in Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general has a formidable religious initiative of the government, but also to evaluate their activities as commendable noteworthy in controlling and reducing religious crises to the barest minimum in Lagos State. It was discovered, however, that this would not have been possible without constant interaction with Religious Leaders in the State. Through the Council, various policies of the Government get across the polity since majority of the residents are Christians and Muslims. It is the opinion of this paper that relative peace enjoyed in Lagos State should not be taken for granted. It is on this basis that some suggestions were offered on possible ways of strengthening the Council for better achievements. The paper, however, solely adopted a library based approach in gathering all necessary information for its actualization.