World must stop misreading Nigeria’s security crisis — Oluremi Tinubu

The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on Wednesday urged the international community to stop presenting inaccurate narratives about Nigeria’s security challenges.

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She also called for the inclusion of Nigerian security agencies in upcoming interfaith dialogue efforts.

Mrs Tinubu made the appeal when she received former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rt Revd Justin Welby, at the State House, Abuja.

The meeting, which also saw the First Lady receive Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, on a separate matter, addressed the twin issues of religious peacebuilding and digital inclusion for women and girls.

Senior Special Assistant to the First Lady on Media, Busola Kukoyi, disclosed details of both meetings in a statement she signed Wednesday titled ‘First Lady of Nigeria engages former Archbishop of Canterbury on interfaith dialogue.’

Welby, who resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury in November 2023 following controversy over his handling of abuse allegations within the Church of England, visited the First Lady ahead of a major interfaith dialogue convened by the Global Forum for Peace in Abu Dhabi under the patronage of Sheikh Abdallah Bin Baya, scheduled to hold in London next week.

Mrs Tinubu told the former head of the Anglican Church that accurate understanding of Nigeria’s realities was a prerequisite for effective support from the global community.

“The world must get the right perspective of the various challenges in the nation to be able to proffer appropriate solutions.

“Listening to one side of the story and then concluding is a wrong approach to conflict resolution,” she said.

She also pushed back against the tendency of external observers to attribute Nigeria’s security crises to religious or ethnic fault lines without proper verification, a concern that has been consistently raised by the government in response to international coverage of farmer-herder clashes and insurgency in the North-East and Middle Belt.

The First Lady commended Welby for acknowledging that Nigeria’s challenges were best understood and resolved by Nigerians themselves.

“Thank you for opening up this Interfaith Dialogue,” she told him, adding, “and I believe that you should also invite not just the Christians and Muslims but also the Nigeria Security to the dialogue, to know what they have been doing.”

She also commended the nation’s armed forces for their efforts, urging the church, globally, on the power of preaching to shape social behaviour.

Mrs Tinubu said, “The church, not only in Nigeria but the world over, must preach right so that people can live right.”

Welby, in his remarks, described the visit as preparatory work ahead of the London dialogue, emphasising that his engagement with Nigeria went beyond security and touched on the country’s broader global image as a nation where freedom of worship is protected.

He said, “We want to contribute to what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing to promote peace, interfaith-wise. All we are after is enduring peace.

“I am here to smooth the way ahead of the Interfaith dialogue and make sure the meeting addresses all that it should.”

He said the London dialogue would bring together 12 Christians and 12 Muslims with the goal of having both sides listen deeply to one another and develop workable frameworks for resolving interfaith conflicts, not only in Nigeria but across the world.

The former Archbishop was accompanied by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery.

The visit comes barely a month after President Tinubu, accompanied by the First Lady, undertook a state visit to the United Kingdom, during which interfaith dialogue engagements and a church service at Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, featured on the First Lady’s programme.

Earlier on Wednesday, the First Lady also received Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, who came to brief her on progress made on the ministry’s Girls in Tech programme, an initiative aimed at closing the gender digital divide by equipping young Nigerian women with technology skills.

Tijani, who briefed State House correspondents after the meeting, said the First Lady had agreed to host a dinner in Abuja to showcase innovations and solutions built by participants of the Girls in Tech programme.

He said her endorsement would lend significant visibility to the initiative and inspire wider participation.

The minister also secured the First Lady’s backing as the face of a campaign designed to deepen internet penetration and connectivity in rural and riverine communities across Nigeria.

These areas, he said, remain significantly underserved by digital infrastructure despite the Government’s broadband expansion drive.