Religious Tolerance And Peaceful Co-existence: The Roles Of The Nigerian Youth

Abstrakt

The nation Nigeria and indeed, the whole world is witnessing a series of problems from the political and religious perspectives which have held the government to ransom thereby constituting threats to social, economic, political and religious lives. From the religious perspective, there have been problems resulting from religious intolerance which has been a disturbing and menacing threat to peaceful co-existence. This is often orchestrated by religious fanaticism, bigotry and intolerance. The recent upsurge of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern part of Nigeria has been a recurring decimal in the annals of Nigerian history and this has made the world body to list Nigeria as one of the terrorist nations in the world. The various killings, maiming and destruction of lives and property by this group have become worrisome and has generated different outburst by various people, government and non-governmental organizations. In addition, the youths in the nation are involved in some of these dastardly acts due to the fact that many of them are unemployed and have been tools in the hands of those who foment trouble in the nation. It is in this light that this paper argues that religious tolerance can be an asset in achieving the much needed peace which has eluded Nigeria and indeed, the world. In achieving this, the paper posits that the youths have a role to play in achieving the man-power need by imbibing the right attitude which will eke out a good and virile society. As such, the youth must be able to transmit acceptable moral behaviours in the society.