Building Inter-Ethnic and Religious Harmony in Nigeria
Bishop Welby has been visiting Nigeria regularly since 1978, first as a business man and later in a variety of church roles. In January this year, Bishop Justin was invited to speak at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria on “Building Inter-Ethnic and Religious Harmony in Nigeria: Pathways to National Unity.”
In this lecture, which we share here with his kind permission, he reflects on how Nigeria can be stable and secure with religious harmony and without persecution or inter-religious war.
Commenting on the current world situation he cites Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech on the rupture of the old order (see below). Bishop Welby suggests 6 values that Christian and Muslim leaders need to embrace for inter-ethnic and religious harmony:
1. Sovereignty: The future of Nigeria should be decided by Nigerians
2. Honesty: being honest about the situation, the faults of our own faith community, standing with the oppressed, acknowledging the whole truth
3. Transparency: public accountability in all things without hiding the truth
4. Decisive action: not just making declarations, but acting on them
5. Common Good: Everyone in Nigeria must be treated equally and every action judged by the value that it will lift up all people, especially the most needy
6. Theology: building “good disagreement” which is true reconciliation.
In suggesting practical ideas for action, Bishop Welby bases his thoughts on three
all-encompassing commands: love God in obedience, love one another in sacrifice, and serve one another in humility, because we are all made in the image of God. The task for each religious leader is not to make themselves famous, but to glorify God.
Read the full speech here on our website:
In his speech Bishop Justin refers to Canadian Prime Ministers speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2026. It is well worth listening to (15 minutes) this inspiring speech full of hope and ideas for positive action in the world we find ourselves in.
Prime Minister Mark Carney describes how the old order us fading and we now live in a world where the strong can do what they like and the weak suffer. Compliance is not an option, we need to work together for good because the strength of powerful systems comes not from truth but from everyone performing as if it was true. However, this is also it’s fragility because any crack in the illusion will bring it down as the truth is revealed.
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