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Religious Pluralism and Inter-Religious Encounters in the 21st Century Nigeria

Religion is one of the heritages that Nigeria shares with other African countries. In fact, Nigeria is blessed with three major religious traditions—African indigenous religion, Islam and Christianity—which actually afford her the opportunity to be a pluralistic religious country. These religions relate with the Nigerian society and they fulfil different roles which are deeply rooted in them. However, because of the inbuilt challenges of a pluralistic religious state, some manipulators use religion as their ready-made instrument of conflict and confusion, in the cities that are well-known for their peaceful co-existence over the years. Consequently, the scenario is having negative effects on the socio-political, educational and religious lives of Nigerians nationwide. This paper aims at discussing religious interactions among Nigerians during the pre-colonial era and comparing it with what is in operation in the current dispensation. It will also examine the various ways that manipulators have used religion and explore how interreligious dialogue and other means of peaceful co-existence can be used to enhance meaningful development in the country. The research employs a qualitative method of data collection and uses a phenomenological approach to analyse the data collected. Findings revealed that different religious adherents interacted freely in antiquity until the incursion of foreign religions with their attendant intolerance. Consequently, improper handling of interreligious encounters, lack of adequate interreligious understanding and abuse of religion have caused religious conflicts and insecurity of lives and properties in the country. These in turn have led to the setback experienced in the development of socio-economic and political sectors in Nigeria. It is the opinion of this study that if the relevance of religion is fully understood and it is allowed to perform its roles for the benefit of humanity, Nigerians in general would witness peaceful, harmonious existence and meaningful development in all dimensions.