Nigeria is a nation with a population of over 190 million that boasts multitudes of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, but they all fall under two religions for the most part: Christianity and Islam. About half of Nigeria’s population classifies as Christian, mostly in the south of the country, and about half of Nigeria’s population classifies as Muslim, mostly in the north of the country. Despite the Christians mainly residing in the southern half of the country and the Muslims residing in the northern half, it is so absolutley common to see crossovers. Though there can be disagreements between the two groups, it is usually always economic or political, and almost never actually about the religious differences between the two. Nigeria is a sign to the entire world that Christians and Muslims can coexist peacefully right next to each other, obviously.
When ISIS affiliated terrorist group Boko Haram began rising up and killing civilians in the late 2000s and early 2010s, a guttural reaction that some would have expected, due to the history of public reactions to other waves of terrorism around the globe, would be an islamaphobic response. Instead, Nigerians recognized that you cannot paint an entire religion, of billions, with a single stroke due to one terrorist group. Nigerians united together, Christian and Muslim, demanding action from the government in response to the attrocities that Boko Haram was causing, murders, bombings, the infamous kidnapping of schoolgirls. Boko Haram didn’t discriminate between Christians and Muslims in their evil attacks, much like other terror groups around the world eg. ISIS, Al-Shabaab, yet many globally allow these terrorist attacks to drive us apart as a collective people, ending with us aiming for each other's necks. Nigerians unified together, and didn’t relent in urging the government to combat Boko Haram, which was what eventually happened. Today, in 2019, Boko Haram are so broken and scattered, that they do not pose any serious threat to Nigeria’s national security. I feel that the people of the world can look to Nigeria to see how much more capable when we are united rather than we segregate and hate off of our perceived differences.
ReplyDeleteNigeria is a nation with a population of over 190 million that boasts multitudes of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, but they all fall under two religions for the most part: Christianity and Islam. About half of Nigeria’s population classifies as Christian, mostly in the south of the country, and about half of Nigeria’s population classifies as Muslim, mostly in the north of the country. Despite the Christians mainly residing in the southern half of the country and the Muslims residing in the northern half, it is so absolutely common to see crossovers. Though there can be disagreements between the two groups, it is usually always economic or political, and almost never actually about the religious differences between the two. Nigeria is a sign to the entire world that Christians and Muslims can coexist peacefully right next to each other, obviously.
When ISIS affiliated terrorist group Boko Haram began rising up and killing civilians in the late 2000s and early 2010s, a guttural reaction that some would have expected, due to the history of public reactions to other waves of terrorism around the globe, would be an Islamophobic response. Instead, Nigerians recognized that you cannot paint an entire religion, of billions, with a single stroke due to one terrorist group. Nigerians united together, Christian and Muslim, demanding action from the government in response to the atrocities that Boko Haram was causing, murders, bombings, the infamous kidnapping of schoolgirls. Boko Haram didn’t discriminate between Christians and Muslims in their evil attacks, much like other terror groups around the world eg. ISIS, Al-Shabaab, yet many globally allow these terrorist attacks to drive us apart as a collective people, ending with us aiming for each other's necks. Nigerians unified together, and didn’t relent in urging the government to combat Boko Haram, which was what eventually happened. Today, in 2019, Boko Haram are so broken and scattered, that they do not pose any serious threat to Nigeria’s national security. I feel that the people of the world can look to Nigeria to see how much more capable when we are united rather than we segregate and hate off of our perceived differences.