An Academic Response to the Elusive Search for Peaceful Coexistence in Nigeria's Ivory Tower of Academia

Abstract

The National Policy on Education, implemented at all levels of education across the nation, does not seem to have gained much prospect in achieving the national unity it canvasses. Violence and disaffection among citizens have become rampant at every cranny of the country. The malaise of interreligious distrust and suspicion have infiltrated the tertiary institutions where policies and leadership training are designed. Succinctly, Nigeria's tertiary institutions' social, religious, and even political composition reflects happenings in the larger Nigerian society. Stakeholders in the citadels of knowledge have replicated instances of interreligious conflicts and fracas ensuing from outside the walls of tertiary schools. These instances are evident despite the status of the schools as environments where solutions would ordinarily have been crafted. Efforts at religious correctness at the expense of peaceful coexistence in Nigeria's ivory towers has persisted. The potential implication of such a negative attitude on interreligious relations is dreary and needs to be addressed. This paper is qualitative in design and adopts historical and text analyses of relevant documents to identify the fundamental cause of interreligious conflicts in Nigeria's tertiary schools. The paper attempts to solve the problem of mutual suspicion, violence, and struggle for supremacy by reviewing the historical antecedence that borders on recent sordid experiences. The expose shall compare the ideals of National Policy of Education with extant General Studies curriculum in Nigerian tertiary school to suggest the inclusion of Peace education for the attainment of peaceful coexistence in Nigeria at large.