The Threats to Sustainable Peace in Nigeria; the Role of the Church
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The specific objectives of the study include:
- To examine the role of church in ensuring peace and harmony in the Nigeria.
- To determine to what extent the Church has been vital and relevant in maintaining peace and unity in Nigeria.
- To examine the dictates of the church as regards peace and harmony.
- To identify the factors disrupting peace and harmony of the society.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on those areas of concern, the Church has always seen as problems facing human development and which it has tried in history to help provide solution to. The Church, through her social teachings, has joined in the social struggle to fight conflicts and bring a peaceful life to the people. This chapter, therefore, specifically reviews literature related to the Church and sustainable peace development, the Church in moral and value orientation, the Church in Education, the Church and human development, conflict resolution and peacemaking, the Church and socio-economic concerns, political development, gender mainstreaming and gender issues, the Church in social work and charity, and development challenges facing the Church in Nigeria today. This chapter gives an insight into various studies conducted by outstanding researchers, as well as explained terminologies with regards to the role of the church in ensuring peace and harmony in the society. The chapter also gives a resume of the history and present status of the problem delineated by a concise review of previous studies into closely related problems.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design adopted for this work is cross-sectional survey and descriptive analysis on a randomly selected sample of the different categories of churches (Catholic, Pentecostal and Orthodox).
STUDY AREA
The study area for this research is Imo state in eastern Nigeria.
The choice of Imo state as the study area is because since the creation of the state in 1967 and in spite of the movement of Abia state in the state creation exercise of 1991, it naturally enjoys the benefits of being the fulcrum of the eastern part of the country. Imo state is built with many roads, estates , government establishments, all kinds of private developments, schools, hospitals, theaters, shopping malls, hotels to mention a few. All these infrastructures are the handiwork of construction. As such there cannot be a better place to obtain data for this study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of the result obtained from questionnaires. The data gathered were presented according to the order in which they were arranged in the research questions, sample percentage and pie charts were used to analyze the demographic information of the respondents while the chi square test was adopted to test the research hypothesis.
CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
It is pertinent to note that this research was aimed at assessing the contributions of the church in maintaining peace and harmony in the society, thus the topic “the threats of sustainable peace in Nigeria; the role of the church”.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations were made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges associated with conflicts resolution in Nigeria.
5.2 FINDINGS
The objective of the study was to know the role of the church in ensuring sustainable peace and harmony in the country. Findings from the study reveals that majority of the respondents are of the opinion that the church plays a vital role in ensuring peace and harmony in the society. See table 7 above.
Another finding from the study reveals that the society will be peaceful if the church is active in preaching the message of peace (See table 8)
5.3 CONCLUSION
The relationship between religion and conflict or peacebuilding is neither static nor one-dimensional.The vast body of literature and evidence on links between religion, conflict and peace does not point to the possibility of establishing a clear-cut model or theory for the relationship between these phenomena, nor does it provide simple recipes for promoting peace or avoiding war. This study is of the view that any realistic attempts to deal constructively with the conflicts in Nigeria must address the roots of conflict such as ethnic differences, poverty, high unemployment, revenue distribution, electoral malpractices, corruption and political godfatherism. It is also the position of this work that the churches and her leaders should draw the attention of their members to the fact that everything in this world is temporary and man will give account to God about his/her stewardship here on earth on the day of judgment. Again, the church leader should speak out strongly against the vices and ills of their society. Besides, the church leaders must do all within their power to inculcate in their members and generalpublic the virtues of peace, honesty, justice, love, forgiveness, tolerance, public integrity and must also see that men/women of proven integrity, honesty and transparent character are placed in public offices. The Christian church plays this role of conflict management and resolution through inculcating in her members and the public at large the spirit and importance of dialogue, forgiveness, promoting social justice, mass evangelism and prayer convocation, through their teaching of eschatology and serving as the prophet and conscience of the society, and organizing of workshops and advocacy visits. The church leaders must do all within their power to inculcate in their members and the general public the habit of tolerance, peace, and justice, honesty and public integrity. The church leaders are to speak out in one voice against the ills of the society.
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendation is made from this study
Churches should focus more in preaching the message of peace and harmony rather than prosperity message that is the order of the day in most churches today. Churches should also discourage violence greatly as this aids peace and harmony in the society.
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