Strategies for Traditional and Religious Leaders to Effectively Contribute to a Peaceful Co-existence and Sustainable Development

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Sectarian violence sparked by a spat at a market left 55 people dead in Kaduna, situated in northern Nigeria, on the 19^th of October 2018. These spontaneous deadly clashes are often based on slightest misunderstanding between the various ethnic and religious groups that inhabit the State, and increasing these have become recurrent over the past twenty years. This worrisome situation attracted the attention of President Buhari, who, declared that “No culture and religion support the disregard for the sanctity of life,” adding that "peaceful coexistence is necessary for the progress of any society and its wellbeing." Without harmony between different groups, "our everyday businesses would be impossible to achieve," the president said. He called on community leaders to encourage tolerance and stop such discord before it could develop into violence.

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is, therefore, building on this call to facilitate a one-day High Level Roundtable Dialogue on the topic “Strategies for Traditional/Ethnic and Religious Leaders to Effectively Contribute to a Peaceful Co-existence and Sustainable Development in Multi-ethnic and Multi-religious communities”. The aim of the event is to provide a synergy-building platform for Traditional/Ethnic and Religious Leaders to consolidate their individual initiatives in achieving a peaceful co-existence in Kaduna State. The roundtable is expected to facilitate the creation of a “Moral Leaders Forum for the Sustenance of Peaceful Co-existence Amongst the Multiethnic and Multi-religious Populations of Kaduna State”. Participants will include fifteen critical and influential Traditional/Ethnic and Religious Leaders as well as socio-political leaders of Kaduna State.