NIGERIA: Killings due to poverty and tribal tensions, not religion, says archbishop
By John Pontifex
Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Jos, in central Nigeria
A lack of political will is to blame for the outbreak and spread of violence in Nigeria, according to the region’s top Church leader, who also claimed that many lives would be saved if the government acted faster to provide security.
Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Jos, in central Nigeria, spoke out against government and other political figures, accusing them of failing to do enough for what he called an “abandoned people” living in desperate poverty compounded by inter-tribal tensions.
Speaking from Nigeria in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the archbishop said the people’s lack of basic services meant they were easy prey for radical groups using religion to whip up support for violence and intolerance.
His comments come a week after a spate of killings broke out in and around Jos, where Muslim-Christian clashes have led to hundreds of deaths.
Archbishop Kaigama, who as chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria represents Churches across the region, accused the government of not acting fast enough to provide security as the crisis broke.
Explaining that the state governor’s request for extra security had to be passed up to Federal government leaders before being approved, he said: “Those who live here are an abandoned people. It can take up to a whole day to get the necessary security support.
“If they had responded quicker, many lives would have been saved. The state governor is handicapped at the moment. It takes too long to get the required assistance.”
The archbishop was speaking a few hours after attending a high-level meeting of political, tribal and religious leaders at a discussion led by David Jonah Jang, Governor of Plateau State.
He went on to accuse the government and other political figures of failing to address the root causes of the violence, which he stressed were not primarily religious but more tribal, ethnic, economic and political.
“The government and security agents should have identified the root causes of the violence and this has not been done. Now they are asking what can be done. This should have been done a long, long time ago.”
The archbishop added: “It is unfortunate when religion is being used to camouflage the real problems. Religion is a tool being used by politicians who have ulterior motives.
“They have not been able to resolve who are indigenous to the area and who are settlers. You need to find the best way to relate to these groups. Many are very restive. This needs to be addressed politically and socially.”
He said that many young people joined in the violence because they were unemployed, with nothing to do. “They are ready,” he said. “It is exciting for them.”
A deepening economic crisis was also to blame for the violence, said the archbishop. He said electricity and clean water supplies were poor and that schools and universities were closed for weeks and months at a time because of strike action over staff pay.
“As a priest and a bishop, I spend almost all of my time doing social work,” he explained. “People come and queue up outside where I work, asking me for help with their sick children, getting a job and so on.
“The government has failed to address these issues. Even when they have the resources, they do not channel it into the areas which really need it.”
The archbishop also criticised the media, alleging that many of the reports were untrue or exaggerated. Commenting on media claims that several hundreds had died in the violence, he said that the extent of the unrest meant it was impossible to provide accurate figures for the number killed in the atrocities.
He accused the media of relying on biased sources. “The media get the Hausa [tribe] Muslims to provide the information but this means that the reporting is biased and prejudiced.
“They say things that are not true and when others hear it on the local radio, they get alarmed and it just makes the whole situation much worse. Those responsible for the media need to show more discernment.”