BusinessDay 04 Mar 2018

C002D5556 Sunday 04 March 2018
22 BDSUNDAY
TheWorshippers
‘Government is not sincere about
solving the herder/farmer conflicts’
Venerable Ariire Ayo Kolawole, Vicar of Our Saviour’s Anglican Church, Egbe, Lagos speaks with Seyi John Salau on the herder/
farmer conflicts, what could be done to mitigate future crisis in the country, among other issues. Excerpts:
The herder/farmer conflicts
have been on for a while. As
an expert in peace and conflict
resolution, what do you think
can be done about these incessant
clashes to bring about lasting
peace in the country?
In any crisis, before you
get it settled you need to
know the causes. There
are three important
things in conflict that
should be taken into cognizance.
Number one is interest of the
conflicting parties involved.
Before anybody will have an issue
with another person, there
must be an interest they want to
achieve. Number two is the goal,
and it is very important, and number
three is the principal actors
who are the people: what interest
do these people have or what
goal do they want to achieve? All
these things are very important.
In these herder/farmer clashes
there are several factors that we
need to consider: one is political,
two ethnic, and three is religious.
So, all these factors must be
looked into before anybody can
just dabble into it for resolution.
I am talking of interest, and if you
see the role that the government
is actually playing – is the government
really sincere? You will see
some political undertone in this
matter; you will see some religious
undertone in this matter,
and you will equally see some
tribal differences in this matter.
Religion is terms of, whether
anybody likes it or not today, you
will see the way Islam is operating
with some secret agendas;
the northerners as well, and the
government knows what to do
but are they sincere? And you
will see that government is also
using it as a weapon. That is also
how Boko Haram came, and
remember, before Boko Haram
eventually emerged, six years to
the time, the government was
alerted but they never acted.
When they were building this
Ariire Ayo Kolawole
Sambisa camp, the government
was also alerted before it eventually
manifested but the government
never took it seriously. I
remember several proposals
were written to the government
during the Jonathan administration
when this issue of Boko
Haram first came up; remember
Jonathan made a statement that
it was not true, it was not real –
so, it was until it escalated into
violence that the government
took it seriously.
What role can the church
play in the present situation?
If the government has failed
us, and if other avenues that
could be used to resolve the
crises have failed, what can the
church do? I think the Nigerian
church is cowardly; I must be
frank with you. And again, in
political or national issues, most
times the Nigerian church could
God has always taken few
people and does not work by
number – the work of God is
not a game where you rely on
numbers
not come to the front because
even the church has messed
itself up and that is the truth. For
instance, you will remember the
role that Christian Association
of Nigeria (CAN) played under
Oritsejafor then, who was alleged
to have taken money from
government. The church will
not be able to take some key
decisions on national matters
until the day it separates itself
from the state. It is a big issue at
the moment, and as long as the
church is still married with the
state, it cannot do much. Why did
I say marriage here? What is the
relevance of government sponsoring
people for pilgrimage? It
doesn’t make any sense.
However, as it is now the
church can still do more by
coming out to speak up. One,
you cannot fight an enemy
you don’t know, it is important.
Nigeria churches at times are
too shallow in knowledge – Nigerian
church is far from information;
we discover that many
of our members don’t really
know what is happening in our
society, and because you do not
have the authentic information
you cannot know the area you
need to comment on. I think
the church must wake up on
national issues to be really involved,
especially during election.
And, in terms of conflict
resolution, the church is better
positioned. For example, if the
church identifies their members,
the mosque also identifies
their members causing crisis in
the society, I do not see any of
my members being involved in
a conflict that I will not be able
to talk to. So, we have to start
from there, first by teaching;
second, by preaching and by
demonstrating what we teach,
and the church must also be involved
in mediating in conflict
situation.
The rate of divorce among
young couples in the church
calls for concern; how can the
church mitigate this trend?
The alarming rate of divorce
in the church today is part of the
global change because tradition
has been so badly affected, and it
is also part of the western culture
that has eaten deep into us. It
has eroded our cultural values
as a people. Number two cause
is the underage marriage in the
society; many people that are
getting married today are not yet
ready for marriage. The biblical
recommendation for marriage
is not for young boys to marry;
it is for a man. That is the word
that the bible used, that a man
must leave his father and mother
– I want you to take note of the
word ‘man’.
The bible is so mindful of
the choice of language. By using
the word ‘man’, the bible
talks about maturity and you
cannot be a man when you
are not intellectually mature,
when you are not mature in
thinking, and you equally cannot
be a man when you are not
independent financially; you
don’t have a job. When young
couples come to me saying
they want to marry, the first
question I ask them is – do you
have a job? If you do not have
something doing for a living,
you cannot marry because by
the time you cannot cope financially,
it causes a lot of trouble.
Then maturity – many of these
children are not properly nurtured.
In those days you see
people grow to have mentors
and are nurtured to the extent
of what they should do.
Number three is that today,
people do not know the purpose
of marriage; many marry for so
many reasons different from
the way the Lord institutionalized
it. For instance, the way of
thinking for young people today
is different: somebody wants to
marry a young girl whose parents
are rich, perhaps to use her as a
stool to get up. When that is not
achieved, it becomes an issue.
And there is a lot of deceit today,
people are deceived into marriage.
Again, many young people
are impatient: they don’t want to
endure anymore.
Coming back to the question
of what can the church do, number
one is teaching; the church
should do more of teaching on
this issue. By the grace of God,
last year in our General Synod
I moved a motion on how the
church can make impact in the
lives of members regarding family
matters, and as a diocese we
are setting up a mediation centre.
What we aim to achieve now is
to really discourage the rate of
litigations among our members.
Number two, because there are
lots of frictions and issues in
the church, we want to identify
families and members that are
having issues, and we want the
mediation centre to take care
of the issues. Through this mediation
centre, we will be having
seminars and platforms to reach
out to members to help people
have a successful and happy
home; that is the area where the
church can come in.
Looking at the economic
situation in the country and the
size of your parish, how do you
cope with ongoing development
in the church?
God’s work is God’s work; it
is God that does His work, even
when you have larger population.
God does not work by
population. For instance, let’s
start from Jesus Christ: what we
enjoy as church today started
with 12 people – Jesus had 12
disciples. Among the multitude
in those days, Jesus took only few
to implement whatever plans he
might have. And remember vividly
in the Old Testament when
the children of Israel were going
to war, it was only few people
that were appointed to go and
fight the battle.
God has always taken few
people and does not work by
number – the work of God is
not a game where you rely on
numbers. Number two, when
you have faith in Him, He will
work His purpose out. And one
thing about God is that when
He is sending you, He has actually
completed His work even
before you get there. He will just
send you as an intermediary or
an instrument of fulfilment. Remember
when He sent Moses in
Exodus 3, Moses was complaining:
‘This work that you have
given me, I am not as eloquent’.
But God told him, ‘I will provide
a way, I will raise somebody
for you to interpret and I will
teach you what to say at every
point in time; I will occupy your
mouth’. So, that is the evidence
that whatever God wants to
achieve He will. Moses at a point
also complained about manpower
and God said, ‘What is
that you are carrying in your
hand?’ He said it was rod and God
ministered to the rod and made
ordinary to be extraordinary.