By; JULIANA KATUNG, Kaduna
Following the increased insecurity challenges in the country, the Dialogue Reconciliation and Peace Centre (DREP) n Tuesday, 23rd, July 2019 organised a two-day workshop for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Kaduna on promoting cultural and religious pluralism, which is aimed at promoting tolerance among the people.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen, the Coordinator of DREP, Mr. Chris Ogbonna said the training was part of the four years project of the DREP activities sponsored by the European Union (EU).
According to him, the Catholic Clarita Foundation of Nigeria in conjunction with DREP centre and Catholic Agency for Oversea Development (CAFOD) is carrying out a four year European Union sponsored project to promote tolerance known as action for cultural and Religious pluralism in Nigeria with specific focus on Kaduna and Plateau state.
He said the project tagged ‘Zaman Tare’ (Living together) is geared towards strengthening multicultural and religious tolerance in Nigeria and Niger Republic through various initiatives.
“The Dialogue Reconciliation and Peace centre was initiated and is the dream of the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, most Rev. Ignatius A. Kaigama, in collaboration with others christian, Muslim, Community and Opinion leaders,” he noted.
He explained that Kaduna and Plateau state was choosing as a focus point because of the prevalence of cultural and religious motivated violence.
“We know that a lot of people have been talking and various activities have been carry out on peace, but the ideas of having the training with the Civil Societies, is to have a coordinated approach by advocating for a change in policies that will encourage religious tolerance thereby changing the people behaviour,” Mr Ogbonna noted.
He added that there is no society that can function without an effective CSO because they have the voice and the mobilization power to make things work.
“For you to have an effective advocacy, you need to have an organise CSO, so we are just building their capacity on how to effectively carry out the project” the coordinator added.
Also speaking, the Zaman Tare Project Coordinator, Mr. Cletus Aloke said the CSOs training is one of the strategies of bringing their partners together for brainstorming by bringing them to the bar with the knowledge they have on advocacy as well as come up with strategies on how to lias with the relevant stakeholders on the ongoing project.
According to him, the project kicked off after a research had been carried out by Kaduna State and Jos Universities in which poverty, joblessness, as well as provoking preaching by some religious leaders are being identified as the major factors that cause crisis in the two states.
He further explained that at the end of the project, the centre and their partners expect to see people living with tolerance despite their religious, cultural diversities by living together as one nation for the development of the country at large.
He however, called on the participants to take the message of importance of living in tolerance to their various destinations.
