Public Lecture by Primate Henry Ndukuba – 26 July 2024 on The church’s response to persecution in Nigeria
From: Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life.
Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, the Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) will give a public lecture by zoom on Friday 26th July at 1100 (UK time GMT+1) His topic will be “The Church’s response to persecution in Nigeria” followed by questions.
It has been noted that religious violence is one of the important trends in our contemporary world. Given the defeat of Islamic State in the Middle East, North Eastern Nigeria has become the epicentre of this conflict. As increasing violence occurs so has the number of Christians not only killed, but also dispossessed. Much greater consideration must be given to understand the nature of inter-religious conflict and how to address it.
Archbishop Henry is the leader of 20 million Christians in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).
He was a keynote speaker at the R20 Conference in Freedom of Religion in Bali in November 2022 and also at the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights held at Princeton in December 2023 where he spoke bluntly about the West’s failure to acknowledge and defend the human rights of his fellow Nigerians. He said:
‘ A false narrative among Western powers that the widespread massacres and displacement of Christian communities in northern and central Nigeria are a consequence of climate change — and policies that deny foreign aid to African countries that refuse to legally endorse same-sex relations — must be jettisoned. The international community must focus its attention on the indisputable evidence that well-organized, well-equipped, and well-funded militias — with links to Ansaru, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram terrorist groups — are operating in many parts of northern and central Nigeria, devastating vulnerable Christian communities. The fact that these massacres continue unabated, despite significant funds being poured into security measures, equipment, and training of the nation’s military, casts enormous doubt on the politically correct narratives that the international community continues to embrace, ostrich-like.’
Speaker: Primate Henry Ndukuba
Topic: Church response to persecution in Nigeria
Date: 26 July 2024
Time: 11.00am BST
Meeting ID: 892 1450 6109
Passcode: 530001