Education is under threat in much of rural Nigeria as many children have been displaced by violence and hardship, with some schools closing due to kidnapping and violence. Already exacerbated by the Boko Haram insurgency as well as deadly attacks and kidnappings by herders and bandits, some targeting schools, educational opportunities for children in rural Nigeria continue to suffer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) is a faith-based organization made of 120 Christian and Muslim leaders across Nigeria. IDFP was established as a national interfaith and intercultural dialogue through funding and facilitation of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), with view to mobilizing “adherents of all religious faiths in Nigeria towards creating opportunities for building trust, confidence and cooperation through dialogue”

The development and design of the workshop on Sensitization and Capacity Strengthening for Religious Leaders, CSOs and Policymakers on the Violence Prevention Campaign towards Nigeria’s 2023 General Election was initiated by the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) and supported by KAICIID Dialogue Centre

Nigeria is at a crossroad facing large scale religious, ethnic, political and economic challenges. As Boko Haram rages in the northeast, banditry and kidnapping is thriving in the northwest, political and secessionist tension is unravelling the southeast and southwest and the farmers-herdsmen conflicts continues to divide the middle-belt of the country

Conflict and violence continues to escalate in Nigeria and more than two-thirds of the country’s 36 states are in a state of conflict. In the North west kidnapping and banditry are prevalent, to the northeast boko haram is a threat to security, the southeast is affected by the activities of separatists of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the north central areas are faced by the intractable farmer-herders conflict. The role and activities of various actors including religious leaders have been blamed for the escalation of the various conflicts.

In order to effectively respond to food insecurity as a contributor to the exacerbation of inter-religious tensions in Nigeria, this project aims to establish multistakeholder action at the local and national level by: