Religious leaders from Nigeria’s 37 states gather in Abuja

This week TBFF’s partner in Washington, the Centre for Interfaith Action against Poverty (CIFA), is launching an innovative initiative with religious leaders in Abuja, the Nigerian Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA). To get the idea just ask the question how does a Ministry of Health that sees the importance of faith communities in health care talk and work with them? Bear in mind there are hundreds of different religious communities comprising the almost equal numbers of Muslims and Christians making up the majority of the country’s 145 million population.

The answer is to create a ‘one-stop-multi-faith-shop’, NIFAA, where the Minister of Health can visit and talk, and you resource it properly so it can mobilise the full potential of its constituent faith communities around health. You also make sure it has a strong board chaired by two of the country’s outstanding and committed religious leaders respected by government. The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Oneiyekan, who has pioneered interfaith and ecumenical relations and the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sa'ad Abukabar III, an acknowledged leader of Nigerian Muslims, Sarkin Musulmi, his friend and extremely able government-appointed malaria tsar.

It is a truly ambitious project, getting most of the religious leaders under one tent, and committed to improving their contribution to the nation’s health. And it will require training and perseverance. So religious leaders are coming from all 37 of Nigeria’s states for a training session to coincide with the big launch.

The TBFF, which must declare an interest as having a representative on the NIFAA board, wishes the initiative well. More than that, it hopes NIFAA can become an exemplary project from which other African countries can learn, an example of what faith communities can achieve when integrated into national health plans.