One Nation Under God

In contemporary Nigeria, university campuses have become veritable centres not only for religious practices but equally for the recruitment of members by sects, cults, and denominations. Our research project was premised on the assumption that for the country to achieve sustainable integration, undergraduates in the nation’s university system should be co-opted as advocates and stakeholders in the onerous task of peacebuilding and interfaith harmony. This paper reports on the initial survey carried out early in the year 2022 among university of Abuja undergraduates (Christian and Muslims) in this regard. The paper used the descriptive research method. A carefully designed questionnaire was administered among five hundred and twenty-four (524) undergraduates from the University. Having deployed the Integrated Phenomenological Approach (IPA) to research, the paper found that respondents were all desirous of a peaceful interfaith space not only on their campus but across Nigeria. They opined that the introduction of a curriculum on interfaith dialogue and the formulation of a policy on religious practices in the Nigerian University System (NUS) would go a long way in entrenching peace among adherents of various religions and ultimately in promoting national integration.

在现代尼日利亚，大学校园已不仅仅成为宗教实践的中心，而且也是宗派、帮派和教派招募成员的场所。本研究项目基于这样一个假设：为了实现国家的可持续发展融合，我国大学体系中的本科生应当被吸纳为和平建设与宗教和谐共处的倡导者和利益相关者。本文报告了2022年初在阿布贾大学本科生（基督徒和穆斯林）中进行的初步调查。研究采用了描述性研究方法，并针对来自该校的524名本科生发放了精心设计的问卷。通过采用综合现象学方法（IPA）进行研究，本文发现受访者均渴望在校园乃至整个尼日利亚拥有一个和平的宗教共存空间。他们认为，在尼日利亚大学体系（NUS）中引入宗教对话课程并制定宗教实践政策，将对巩固不同宗教信徒之间的和平共处起到重要作用，并最终促进国家融合。