The Church and Security Challenges in Nigeria: Prospects for Peace- Building and Sustainable National Development

In the recent times, security challenges have rapidly topped the list of major challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation. These security challenges manifest in different forms, which include terrorism, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, ethno-religious conflicts, communal crises, separatist agitations, cultism, youth restiveness and other forms of social disturbances. These problems, which impinge tremendously on social, economic, political and general wellbeing of citizens, have persisted despite huge annual governmental expenditure on security. This paper, therefore, examines the role of the church in addressing security challenges in Nigeria and the implications of its peace building activities for sustainable national development. It adopts a qualitative research design based on documentary analysis of books, journal articles, internet-based sources and other relevant scholarly materials. The paper argues that the church cannot be successfully sidelined in Nigeria’s struggle to achieve security of lives and property of citizens, peaceful environment for all and sustainable national development, because it is laden with colossal spiritual, moral, social and institutional resources required for active and impactful contribution to conflict prevention, peace building, social cohesion and sustainable national development. It highlights intra-church conflicts, weak church leadership, ethnic consciousness, denominational rivalry, inadequate collaboration among churches, and lack of reliable security information and large scale infiltration of criminals into Nigeria’s security networks, as some of the factors undermining the church’s contribution to security, peace-building and sustainable national development in Nigeria. The paper concludes by arguing that security, peace and national development can be effectively sustained if the church takes its proper place in the society as God’s agent of peace and social reformation, and engages actively as well as constructively in peace-building processes and in providing support for rural community policing and security networks. It recommends, among others, that the church should collaborate actively with government security institutions and intensify efforts in provision of error-free security information to government security institutions for effective maintenance of peace and security in rural and urban areas.

Keywords: Church, Nigeria, security challenges, peace-building, sustainable national development.