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30 

ISLAM AND THE FORMATION OF 

CATHOLIC PRIEST IN NIGERIA 
 

Emmanuel I. UKPEBOR 
Department of Religious Management and Cultural Studies 

Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria 
emma2002ukpe@yahoo.com or emmaukpebor@aauekpoma.edu.ng 

 
Abstract 
The Nigeria society is dynamic and distinct in its pluralistic nature. 
Multiplicity defines the features and elements that make up the Nigerian 
State. The choice of becoming a vanguard of religious tradition by an 
individual in such a nation with plural political, cultural, social and 
religious belief systems demand rigorous formation processes. This 
paper examines Islam, one of the religious and cultural traditions most 
assertive and influential in Nigeria’s religio-political space against the 
training of Catholic priest of the Christian religious belief system. The 
work employs the historical, analytical and evaluative methods to 
examine the transformative stages of Islam from its inception and the 
challenges its poses to the Christian evangelical mission in Nigeria. The 
work hinges on the Geothe’s paradox theoretical framework “he who 
knows one knows none” adapted by Max Muller (1823-1900) in his 
comparative study of religion. The findings reveal that Islam which came 
through commercial activities has become a powerful influence in 
Nigeria society and the knowledge of its dynamic influences is of essence 
in the formation of Catholic priest as it enhances the strategies of priestly 
mission of evangelization and re-construction of a better society for 
peace and harmony with members of other religious groups. The 
enforcement the law of freedom of religious participation by political 
authority of the society is part of the recommendations of the paper 
which concludes that the commitment to interreligious dialogue and 
cooperation in a diverse society as Nigeria by the Catholic church will 
continuously be effective if the elements of knowing the dynamics of 
Islam are embedded within the context of the training of seminarians 
who hold the posterity of the Catholic mission.  
 



408 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

Key Words: Islam, Catholic priest, Formation and Nigeria. 
 
Introduction 
The Nigerian society is a complex society. There are multiple and 
diverse elements in the various systems that make up the entity. The 
religious space is characterized with several religious traditions three of 
which are dominantly subscribed namely; the Indigenous Traditional 
Religion, Christianity and Islam. The peoples that answer the corporate 
name called Nigeria share diverse ethnic nationalities numbering no less 
than 250 ethnic groups with diverse socio-cultural heritages. History has 
it that each of these ethnic groups of which three are predominant ( 
Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo) had and operated different political and 
legal systems before the 1914 Amalgamation that brought the differing 
groups together.     

Religion as an inevitable phenomenon in human activity has a 
function of unifying people together and giving meaning to their 
existence on earth and assurance of what is to come in the afterlife. The 
diversities in the practices of religion in Nigeria with the presence of 
multiple religious traditions and the ethnic and cultural variations of the 
people influence the general administration of the Nigeria State creating 
numerous issues that threaten collective peace and harmony needed for 
the nation’s optimum growth and development. Islam and Christianity 
stand as the most influential and assertive religions in Nigeria’s religio-
political space. The events of struggles, rivalry and competition visible in 
Nigeria’s political engineering more often than not received 
interpretation along the line of these religions (Islam and Christianity) 
(Odey, 2014). There are inconsistencies in the population figure of 
religious affiliation census in Nigeria. Though the 2006 Nigeria 
population census did not censor religious affiliations but the World Fact 
Book (2003) cited in Wotogbe (2012) reveals Muslims population in 
Nigeria to be 50%, Christians 40% while the followers of the Indigenous 
Traditional Religion 10%. Another source, the Religious Freedom 
Nation Profile puts it that Christians in Nigeria are approximately 46%, 
Muslims 44% and members of the African Indigenous Religion 10% 
(Imaekhai, 2010:56).  

The polarization of the society along the two major religious 
divides has earned the Nation series of religious crises that had resulted 
in great fatality both human and property. Islam with its political 
dynamism appears to be more influential and assertive than the Christian 
counterpart in Nigeria’s religio-political space. Many of the religious 
crises that have occurred in Nigeria have been attributed to Islam 
(Ukpebor, 2018). This made Islam to be commonly referred as a religion 
of violence. However, there is more to be known and understood about 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    409 

the Islamic religion and the Muslims besides the common view about 
them especially by the members and the upcoming leaders of the 
counterpart Christian faith.  

Denominationalism characterizes the Christian faith in Nigeria. 
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in 
Nigeria. It has about 39 million worshippers from the over 140 million 
population of Nigeria closely followed by the Anglican Church with over 
18 million members (Imaekhai, 2010:56). The Catholic Church with 
this status has represented the Christian voice in the maintenance of 
peace and harmony through its engagement with other religions in 
dialogue. The positive results of this engagement by the leading Catholic 
clerics create the need for its sustenance by the Church’s successive 
ministers. It is on this note that this paper looks into the formation of 
Catholic priest with the aim of exposing the religious and political 
dynamics of Islam in Nigeria with the view to arm the intending 
Catholic priest with a balanced knowledge that would aid the Church 
effective mission of evangelization in Nigeria society.  
 
Theoretical Framework 
This paper adopts the Geothe’s paradox: “he who knows one knows 
none” as the framework that guides the study. The Geothe’s paradox was 
first used by the students of comparative philology in the study of 
language. Max Muller adopted this paradox “he who knows one knows 
none” in the new discipline of science of religion otherwise called 
comparative study of religion which he developed in late 19th century 
(Muller, 1873). The import of the paradox lies in the fact that one has a 
balanced knowledge, when one has knowledge of more than one religion 
or religious traditions in the society and the process of achieving this is 
known as the comparative study of religions. Thus, comparative study of 
religion in essence is the inquiry into the religious traditions of man. It is 
a study that takes into account the fact that there are in the world of men 
various religious traditions each of which makes sense to the adherents 
or the believers of the faith (Wotogbe, 2005:7). Although, this paradox 
received criticism when it was first used for the study of comparative 
language on the premise that learning too many languages may lead to 
the risk of losing firm grasp of one’s own language. But Muller explained 
that the result in doing comparative study of languages leads to a higher 
level of order, knowledge and wisdom which in a similar vein extend to 
the comparative study of religion. He thus concluded that contrary to the 
position of the critics of comparative languages, inquiries in comparative 
study of religion besides the benefits of higher order, knowledge and 
wisdom attainment, lead one to more firm grasp on one’s own religious 
tradition (Muller, 1897). The theory is apposite as it justifies the aim of 



410 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

this paper which is geared towards exposing the dynamics of Islam, a 
different religious tradition to the Catholic tradition which would 
enhance the acquisition of higher and balanced knowledge in the 
formative processes of priesthood vocation.  
 
Conceptualizing Priest and Priesthood 
The word priest is an English word derived from the Greek word 
presbyterous (elder) but in usage and meaning it is the equivalent of the 
Greek hiereus, latin sacerdos and Hebrew kohen meaning the offerer of 
sacrifice and revealer of oracles (Tasie and Okinedo, 2005:124). This 
translate that a priest is a channel of divine communication that makes 
the wishes of the deity known to men and in turn offers to the deity the 
worship and sacrifices of men. Priesthood as a terminology is an 
institution referring to a body of persons who perform religious 
functions and mediate between men and the Supersensible Being.  

In Catholic tradition, priesthood refers to the sacrament of Holy 
orders through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles 
continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time (CCC, 
1536). The seminary formation is the process the Catholic Church 
instituted to ensure the continuation of the apostolic ministry. As the 
priests are to be taken among men to live with other men as brothers 
(Vatican II no.3), it is expedient to arm them with the dynamic nature of 
the society especially one with plural features.  
 
Defining Islam 
Islam is one of the Semitic and prophetic religious traditions that share 
an uncompromising monotheism and belief in God’s revelation, his 
prophets, ethical responsibility and accountability, and the Day of 
Judgment (Esposito, 2005:1). The word Islam is from the Arabic root 
“SILM” which means peace and submission. It is a term use in Arabic 
language to designate surrender when one wants to submits to his 
opponent in a battle field during the pre Islamic days. It was adopted to 
describe the religion brought by Prophet Muhammad and that is why in 
religious context the word (Islam) came to mean submission to the will 
of Allah and obedience to His law. Kilani describes it as a noun formed 
from the infinitive of a verb asalama meaning “to accept “, “to submit”, 
“to commit oneself” which invariably means to submit or surrender to 
Allah (18). The Qur’an in chapter 3 verse 85 jealously distinguishes 
Islam when it says, “if anyone desires a religion other than Islam 
(submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the 
hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual 
good)”. By implication this means that it is through submission to the 
Will of Allah and by obedience to His law can one achieves true peace 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    411 

and enjoys lasting purity. A Muslim from this understanding becomes 
one who submits to the will of Allah. 
 
Islamic Incursion in Nigeria 
Islam entered the territory now known as Nigeria from two directions; 
the north and south. In both directions, the opening of trans-Saharan 
trade facilitated the penetration of the religion in the area. Raiding, a 
legitimate and legal act in Arabia before the revelation that gave birth to 
Islam came to Muhammad was still been carried out by the Arabs that 
had converted to Islam. One of such Arabs was Uqba ibn-Nafi whose 
raiding venture in 667 AD into the central Sahara opened the route to 
Kanem and Borno in Northern Nigeria and it lasted till the end of the 
19th century (Kenny, 2001). In each of the towns Uqba raided, he 
imposed a tribute of 360 slaves and that made the central African trade 
route to be known and specialized in slaves taken from the hinterland of 
Borno. The business was later extended to Western Sudan where gold 
was discovered. This precious commodity attracted the interest of the 
Umayyad governor who sought for ways to enhance the continuous 
supply of the commodity from West Africa (Kilani & Ukpebor, 2016).  
The trans-Saharan trade routes were then developed to serve a secure 
and efficient link with the Western Sahara. The settlement established by 
the Arab Muslims’ merchant along the trade routes which made them 
stayed with their indigenous customers to the extent of contracting 
marriage with them provided the stimulus for the Islamization of West 
Africa in general (Kilani, 2008). The free mixing of Muslim merchants 
with West African people created the avenue to organize African trading 
agents and associates which the Muslims traders needed to facilitate their 
trade. This led to the emergence of a community of African Muslims 
around the Arab Muslim merchants. Thus, the trans-Saharan trade 
stimulated the beginning of the formation of “State in Islam” in sub-
Saharan African.  

African Kings welcomed the presence of Muslim traders in their 
communities as they saw the economic benefits the long-distance trade 
had to offered and which stood higher if they (the kings) embraced 
Islam. Their compliance would also provide them the status of 
citizenship in the larger Muslim umma (community) with equality and 
brotherhood with the far away Arab Miuslims in Saudi Arabia. As Islam 
gained ground, large scale marketing and transportation became Muslim 
monopoly and this put pressure on traders to join Islam to become part 
of the club.  

The presence of Muslim scholars who provided the written 
communication in Arabic, a vital element in the infrastructure of long-
distance trade also appealed to the people of West Africa. It is interesting 



412 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

to note that the Arabic language was the only international language of 
West Africa before the arrival of the Portuguese on the coast in the 15th 
century and French and English in the 19th century (Kenny, 2001:3). 
Muslims clerics that were present during the trans-Saharan trade had 
several religions medicine to offer which somewhat stood superior in it 
efficacy to that of the Indigenous traditional religion. The medication is 
in form of specific prescriptions for every conceivable disease and any 
other issue of life and the dosage is taken by drinking the ink washed 
from a slate with Quranic writing. There is talisman to be put on and 
prayers to be said. The Islamic rites of worship in its entirety were of 
high attraction as it were commonly performed in an opened 
environment, dramatic and with all seriousness of minds.  

The spirit of brotherhood brought by Islam to those who accept 
it provided a sense of security to them as it gave them legal immunity 
from attack by other Muslims. This became another strong motivation 
for the African King to become a Muslim as it served a pre-emptory 
defense against attack (Kenny, 2001). The Kings therefore found Islam a 
convenient support to their imperial authority as it was a unifying 
ideology bridging many tribes and presenting to them a wider 
brotherhood, citizenship and nationality. This was how the phenomenon 
of “State Islam” emerged. The religion from its inception in West Africa 
was controlled and used to promote the interest of the rulers.  
 
Islamic Reformation and the Spread of Islam in Nigeria 
 Another prominent factor in the spread of Islam in Nigeria is the 
military factor. Beginning from the long-distance trade, Islam spread 
peacefully through Muslim clerics and traders until the reformation 
carried out by Usman dan Fodio in early 19th century among the 
Hausa/Fulani nation. Reformation as a concept is derived from the 
Arabic word Tajdid meaning to reform or revive. It is an ideology derived 
from the prophetic tradition which states that “the Muslims community 
will be assisted by those who will renew its faith for it”. The objective is 
to recreate or recapture the ideal sunni Islamic society by mobilizing the 
people along the paradigms of the Quran and prophetic tradition 
(Ukpebor, 2018:42). It is popularly referred as the Jihad of the sword. 

Thus, the Jihad of Fodio was conceived to revive and purify 
Islam in Hausa land, to eliminate all syncretistic beliefs and rituals, 
jettison all innovations that are contrary to the Quran and Sharia, and 
bring the Muslims backsliders back to orthodox and pure Islam 
(Umejesi, 1992:87). However, the religious motive turned out to be a 
political revolution. All the Hausa dynasties were overthrown and the 
Fulani were installed as Emirs with Sokoto chosen as the Caliphal centre. 
Islamic caliphate system replaced the traditional political system and 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    413 

Islam thereafter became firmly established in places where it had not had 
a stronghold before in northern Nigeria. The all-inclusiveness of Islam is 
justified by this holistic revolution. Islam does not separate the political 
from the religious and this makes Muslims expect that the establishment 
of Islam in the society will bring a better and more prosperous society as 
well as a greater enjoyment of the goods of this life and that of the 
hereafter. This is the notion of State in Islam. It is contrary to the 
Christian teaching to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what 
is God’s. In Islam, Caesar and what he owns belong to God, the One 
(Al-Qaradawi, 1998:3).  
 
Colonial Phase Islam 
The violent intolerance tendency of Islam that stares at the non-Muslims 
especially the Christians and their evangelical mission today was 
stimulated during colonial rule in Nigeria. Although, the militant 
tendency of the Jihadists stopped before the colonial era, the spread of 
Islam continues during the colonial period but in a peaceful mode of 
dissemination like as it was during the trans-Saharan trade. If the British 
had swept away the Caliphal system of Islam they met as their French 
counterpart did in their territory the tale of Nigeria would have been 
different. But the British propped and increased their authority through 
what Umejesi (1992) refers to as “a symbiotic arrangement” otherwise 
known as the “principle of Indirect Rule”.  

In addition, the British introduced the Pax Brittanica which 
permitted Muslims and everyone to move freely throughout the country 
in pursuit of trade or livelihood (Kenny, 2001:8). This enable Muslims to 
build Mosque and interact with local people throughout the country 
while the Christian though were still free to move around the country as 
well but restricted in building churches in Muslims areas and their 
priests were forbidden to evangelize the Muslims. This was enunciated 
by the British who feared that the policy of indirect rule might not 
succeed if the trapping of Islam was not preserved. Takaya (1987) quoted 
in Umejesi (1992) averred: 

Lugard assured them that their religion and customs 
would not be interfered with and that all structures 
would remain except that power was now effectively in 
the hands of the British. On their part, the Muslim 
leaders, nay the Jihadists, promised to put an end to the 
Jihad of the sword and stop slave raiding, human 
mutilation and other acts antithetical to the interests of 
the British economy as pursued through the lugardian 
philosophy of dual mandate in Africa (Umejesi, 
1992:89).  



414 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

This confessional neutrality adopted by the British in the north 
gave way to partiality as the latent import was the recognition of Islam as 
the State religion and the entire north regarded as Muslim land while the 
south considered a Christian area. This impression was far from the 
reality. 

However, the Lugardian partiality and politicized view of 
religion were attributed to various reasons: respect for Islam, fear of a 
general Muslim uprising against the government and a strict cum 
conservative interpretation of the indirect rule system. The Christian 
missionaries themselves equally added to the negative attitude that stared 
at them from the northern/Islamic leaders. The negative attitude resulted 
from the missionary strategy of acting as liberators of the oppressed 
Hausa from the perceived Fulani hegemony and it imperiled the attempt 
to penetrate the Muslim stronghold. This cardinal mistake as Anyanwu 
and Nwanaju (2014: viii) put it, hardened the attitude of the rulers and 
their loyalists against the missionaries whose activities were seen as 
subversive to the established system and order.    
 
Islam in Independent Nigeria 
At independence in 1960s, Islam became a reckoning force in Nigeria 
politics. The British colonizers not only promoted Islam during the 
colonial period but equally set the stage for the supremacy of Muslims 
and Islam in the infrastructural elements of Nigeria’s government. They 
did this through the schools they established to train young members of 
the ruling stratum in the skills necessary for native administration under 
the indirect rule system (Umejesi, 1992). Katsina Teacher’s Training 
College was one of such schools that produced Ahmadu Bello, the 
erstwhile Sardauna of Sokoto. The college was an exclusive training 
ground that produced most of the Nigerian Muslim political leaders of 
the north. In addition, the British ensured as a form of compensation to 
the north for their cooperation and compliance that the heirs of the 
Sokoto caliphate controlled the northern region (Kenny, 2001).  

Consequently the First Republic was headed by Tafawa Balewa, 
a Northern Muslim. But the real power rested on Ahmadu Bello, the 
Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region. The political 
party, Northern People’s Congress (NPC) that brought them to power 
overtly and covertly bears the touch of Islam. Scholars describe the 
features of this political party in various ways. Duddley (1968:143) 
affirmed that the NPC represented the consensus of the Muslim 
Society- the Ijma and that any iota of its rejection by any member of the 
society signified a sinful Islamic act. Falola (1998) described it according 
to the meaning given to symbols in the logo of the party. He reported 
that the ‘one raised finger’ in the logo of the party represents the Unity 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    415 

of God of the Islamic monotheistic faith which in the same way passed a 
message to its people that the ‘two fingered V’ for victory symbol of its 
opponent in the south portrays polytheism which Islam prohibits out 
rightly.     

In the bid to gain upper hand, Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna 
embarked on the policy of northernization informing the people in his 
campaign tours that the north was in danger of coastal colonization when 
the British left. He made this assertion because many skilled southerners 
had occupied some of the best position in the north. As such to avert this 
tragedy, the north should come together under one umbrella against the 
south. Besides, this northernization policy, Ahmadu bello second agenda 
was to completely Islamized the entire north. He was fully committed to 
this as the great-grandson of Usman dan Fodio. He wanted to perfect the 
work of his ancestors and he dip the Quran into the sea with the intent 
of total Islamization of Nigeria. The Sardauna’s assassination in the coup 
of 1966 successfully brought to an end his Islamization agenda of the 
north and by extension the entire Nigeria.  

Leadership is a vital substance in Islam and Muslims are under 
obligation to participate in the societal business of leadership. For the 
fortunes of Islam to continue especially as it is believed that Islam is a 
complete way of life, there is need to perpetually hold on to power so 
that any perceived anomaly could easily be addressed at any point in 
time. Thus, northern Muslims have continued to struggle to hold on to 
power in the reign of government in Nigeria. Coup after coup continues 
to feature in post independent Nigeria with prominent Islamic figures. 

The 1970s saw the promulgation of the Public Education Edict 
by the military administrators announcing the takeover of primary and 
secondary schools run by voluntary agencies. The Catholic Church was 
most hit by that edict as she had invested much in those institutions. 
Initially, the policy was not seen as an attempt to foster any religious 
affiliation but with key positions in the National Education planning 
been held by Muslims, it became clear that the education policies were 
designed to protect and foster Muslims’ interests. The words of a 
Muslim scholar Doi (1978) is an attestation: 
The policy has given freedom to Islam to foster its cause, and in a way it 
has imposed restrictions on Christianity, which had so far dominated the 
educational and social scene of the country. Some of the Muslim 
organizations laid down in their constitution that their aim was to 
remove the educational imbalance between Muslims and Christians 
(Doi, 1978:342-343). 

The political well-being of the Muslim community is a matter of 
supreme importance (Amstrong, 2000:xi). This assertion was 
demonstrated in the 1970s and 1980s as Muslim intellectuals that had 



416 Formation of the Human Person in the 21st Century 

developed in Nigeria began to seek a new identity for Islam in order to 
give Islam a better and beneficial status in the Muslim world, and to 
balance the perceived religious imbalance in Nigeria’s religio-political 
space.  

Thus, there emerged the Shariah debates with the advancement 
by the protagonists that the Islamic law (Shariah) be incorporated in the 
constitution. They hinged their argument on the notion that of the three 
laws in Nigeria: (the Islamic law, English law and the Native law), the 
Shariah has not been given due consideration in the constitution 
(Ebhomienlen and Ukpebor, 2013: 168). The provisions of Sharia on the 
draft constitution were: 
1. There shall be a Federal Sharia Court of Appeal which shall be an 

intermediate Court of Appeal between the States’ Sharia Courts of 
Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria. 

2. The Court shall be composed of the Grand Mufti and such a 
member of Muftis (not less than three) as the National Assembly 
may prescribe. 

3. In each State of the Federation that so desires, there shall be a Sharia 
Court of Appeal to be established by the Constitution of the State ( 
Kukah, 2011:118). 

The background of these political events was the fundamentalist 
tendency of reverting to prestine Islam taught and practice by the 
Prophet enunciated by Abubakar Gumi, the influential spiritual heir of 
the Sardauna. He mentored the Izala Society group (Jama’a Izala al-bida 
wa-iqama as-sunna meaning, movement for the removal of innovations in 
Islam and a return to Prophetic tradition). They espoused the Saudi 
Wahhabism and spread intolerant views and actions which were 
principally against the traditional Muslims who belong to the Sufi 
brotherhood, the Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya (Kenny, 2001), but their 
actions later extended to the non-Muslims especially the Christians. 
They were for the full establishment of Sharia not as enacted by a 
Nigeria government but as the supreme and only law of the Islamic 
umma which they considered as their authentic nationality. Subsequent 
Islamic groups later emerged with full impacts in Nigeria religio-politico 
space such as the Shiite movement, the Maitatsine and the Boko Haram 
with a host of others. 

The perfection of Nigeria’s Islamic status was carried out by the 
later military dictatorships of General Ibrahim Babagida and General 
Sani Abacha with total disregard to the secularity of the Nigeria State. 
Babagida in 1986 registered Nigeria as a full member of the Organization 
of Islamic Conference (OIC) while Abacha signed a secret pact that 
smuggled Nigeria into another Islamic group made up of eight 
developing countries known as the D-8 in 1997. 



Section III: Religious/Socio-Cultural Perspectives And Human Formation    417 

 
Evaluation and Conclusion 
The discussion so far has shown the dynamic nature of Islam, a religious 
tradition in the social, economic and political settings of Nigeria. 
Beginning from the trans-Saharan trade through which Islam penetrated 
Nigeria, its influence has revolutionized commerce and trade. Its military 
transformed the traditional socio-political organization of the north and 
south west to Emirate system and paved way for the triumph of 
Muslims’ hegemonic control of power. The colonial masters did nothing 
but promoted Islam with their policies which consolidated the political 
well-being of the Muslims over the non-Muslims in the geographical 
entity of plurality they formed as Nigeria State. Finally, Nigeria’s 
independence opened the chapter of perpetual struggle for supremacy 
between Muslims and non-Muslims in the direction of leadership and 
general administration of the country with attendant rivalry between the 
adherence of the two religious divides (Islam and Christianity). The 
relevance of this analysis to the formative processes of the Catholic 
clerics is the need for understanding of Islam physical processes on 
Muslims in Nigeria by the seminarians and the logical background 
behind the complex numerous issues which confront the peoples of the 
contemporary Nigeria society they are to serve.  This is important as the 
way out is not to continue in the suprematic struggle but to engage in 
dialogue no matter the cost so that the mission of the Church’s 
evangelization will continue to flourish in the society.  

It is the recommendation of this paper that the non-violent 
attitude of Christ during his redemptive mission on earth be the guiding 
principle of Christians especially the would-be Catholic priest as the 
Catholic Church to a great extent represents the Christian faith in 
Nigeria. Also, the Government authorities should be engaged in 
modalities that promote freedom and impartiality in service delivery to 
the people including the provision of effective strategy that will ensure 
safety and security of lives and property for all citizens.  
 
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