On Friday last week, Ray Chambers, the Special Envoy of Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General for Malaria, hosted religious and political leaders from different parts of the world in Washington, as part of activities to mark the World Malaria Day. The summit was co-hosted by the Case Foundation and Quincy Jones, the award-winning American music producer.
According to the report emailed to BusinessDay by Jay Winsten, senior communications consultant to the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Malaria, the event tagged ‘One World Against Malaria Summit’ was the first of its kind, got leaders across the world to pledge their strong support and active engagement to end all malaria-related deaths in Africa by 2015. The summit launched an Africa-wide campaign to engage faith-based institutions, working in partnership with governments and the private sector to cover every African with a bed net by 2010.
‘One World Against Malaria’ will foster collaborations among people of different countries, cultures, and religious faiths – particularly Christians, Muslims and Jews – across the public, private and non-profit sectors with the ultimate goal of helping to end deaths from malaria by 2015. The Nigerian delegation to the summit was led by John Onaiyekan, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto.
At the summit in Washington, Onaiyekan and Sa’ad Adubakar announced the formation of the Nigerian Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA) which will coordinate the efforts of congregations to increase the distribution and utilisation of nets, anti-malarial treatments and other interventions across Nigeria in partnership with the Nigerian National Malaria Control Programme.
The Minister of Health, Babatunde Osotimehin, who was also on the Nigerian delegation, released the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Control, 2009-13. The plan provides for the distribution of 60 million nets to 30 million households by the end of 2010 to achieve the deadline agreed between Chambers and President Umaru Yar’Adua in December 2008. With the endorsement of major donors, Osotimehin announced $2 million in funding from the National Malaria Control Programme for the NIFAA Secretariat.
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For us in Nigeria, the significance of the summit goes beyond the fight against malaria. Indeed malaria is a disease that has caused so much distress and wreaked so much havoc in Nigeria. Pregnant women are not spared from its debilitating effects; under-five children die in millions as a result of it; the working segment of Nigeria’s population is rendered unproductive. For these health reasons any avenue or method used to fight malaria is welcome.
Beyond these reasons, the coming together of leaders of the country’s two most influential religious communities, Christian and Muslim, and the acceptance by both men to work together should be seen as a good development for ecumenism. Though it is not the first time Christian and Muslim leaders are working together, in fact, there is an inter-religious council at the federal level; this move to fight a common enemy in malaria should be made to get to the level of fighting a common enemy in religious bigotry.
Religious fundamentalism is at the root of Nigeria’s problems. Politicians, instead of keeping faith with the oath they took to uphold the nation’s constitution and work for the common good, prefer to exploit the people’s ignorance and poverty to manipulate them for their (politicians’) selfish ends. In doing this, they exploit the ethno-religious differences of Nigerians.
Religious leaders like Onaiyekan and the Sultan should tell truth to power. They should and are in a position to tell politicians and political office holders that Nigeria can be a better country if they work assiduously towards the interest of Nigeria and not for narrow interests that emphasise more on what divides the people rather than what unites them.
While Onaiyekan and Abubakar III should be congratulated on this historic exercise to fight malaria using inter-faith groups in Nigeria, it is important to remind them that they also have a historic and indeed spiritual obligation to help in the effort to end sectarian violence in Nigeria. That is the only way the country can be safe for peace and prosperity to thrive, two vital ingredients that give meaning to life.
