Speeches

Third Quarter 2008 General Meeting Of The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC)

Aug 5, 2008 - May I, on behalf of the Government and people of Lagos State, sincerely welcome His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, President, Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and His Grace Archbishop John Onaiyekan, President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Chairman and Co-Chairman respectively and respected members of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council to Lagos State on the occasion of the 3rd Quarter meeting of the Council which we are proud and privileged to host on behalf of the South-West Zone of Nigeria.

Religion has always been viewed as the platform on which the divine and human relates. Beyond, it is a veritable source of receiving guidance, blessings and instructions that shape our attitude and relationship with one another in society. But it is sad and most unfortunate that our nation has witnessed serious challenges, occasioned by avoidable religious crises which claimed many lives and property. I understand that it was in the bid to nip in the bud, these sad occurrences that the Council was established in 1999 with the mandate to promote peaceful and harmonious co-existence among adherents of the two faiths through better understanding of and respect for other people’s beliefs.

I also want to thank the Council, comprising of eminent and highly respected leaders of the two dominant faiths in our nation, for keeping faith with the onerous national task and discharging it with all sense of patriotism and commitment. It is a widely acknowledged fact, which we are proud of that Lagos State and indeed the South-West zone represents a national and global role model of ethnic and religious integration in harmonious co-existence.

This is certainly not saying that we do not have our own challenges which in some cases have the potential of developing into major crisis with monumental dire consequences. The reason why this has not been so, can be found in the existing mechanism of peaceful conflict resolutions coupled with the high level of awareness and understanding on the part of our people on the futility of resolving religious difference through violence and other destructive acts. We share the belief in the potency of superiority of ideas over other means as a weapon for winning souls and persuading other people to believe in what we believe.

It was also because of this developmental role that in about two months ago, 17th April, 2008 to be precise, we organized a one day seminar for religious leaders in Lagos State under the auspices of Ministry of Home Affairs and Culture, the Supervisory Ministry for the Nigeria Inter-religious Council, Lagos State Chapter, inaugurated two years ago. At this critical period in the life of our nation, I fervently believe in the role and potentials of religion playing a pivoted role in the process of national orientation and development. Both religions which majorities of us profess are very clear on the issues of moral values including honesty, decency, compassion, dignity of labour and most importantly corruption which we have identified as a major clog inn the wheel of our nation’s progress.

For me, one of the most profound similitude shared by both religions and which aptly situate the essence of religion as an instrument for the promotion of the goodwill among us and promoting the welfare of fellow being, is this statement which I summarize thus “On the day of judgement, God will say to us that when HE was hungry, we failed to give HIM food, when HE was sick, we failed to visit HIM, when HE was thirsty we failed to give HIM water and so on”. God will declare that yes, it is true that as long as we failed to show concern for the plight of people who found themselves in such situations, we have indirectly neglected HIM. The message in this similitude is clear. Our level of godliness will be determined to the extent by which our action impacts positively on the lives of our compatriots and humanity in general.

This is the main challenge before our religious leaders who command great respect and admiration among their teeming followers. As it is today, there seems to be a wide divergence between our professed religions and the pervasiveness of anti-social behaviour in our society. We need to change our ways, galvanise all the potentials of our religions and manifest them in all aspects of our lives. When we succeed in reducing some of the social ills that pervade all sections of our national life, we would have succeeded in providing a good environment for Government policies to achieve its full objective, which in turn will empower the people and engender peaceful co-existence among them.

Once again, I welcome you all and wish you successful deliberations at this 3rd quarter meeting of the Council.

God bless you all.

“ Eko O ni baje O !”

Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
Governor of Lagos State