Religion, Outgroup Threats and Peacebuilding in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Outgroup threats deeply rooted in decades of recurrent violence linked to religion have largely undermined peacebuilding efforts between Christian and Muslim Communities in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. This suggests that underlying intergroup factors remain unresolved. Anchored on Realistic Conflict Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Integrated Threat Theory, the study investigated community’s perceptions of how religious factors create outgroup threats, and which locally driven peacebuilding efforts are considered as most effective. Qualitative data were gathered from 8 focus group discussions and 64 key informant interviews involving 128 Christian and Muslim residents of Jos city. The results revealed both Christians and Muslims perceived religious leadership as playing a double-edged role in shaping outgroup threats: while some religious leaders promote peace, tolerance and interfaith collaboration, others intensify threats through hate messages, inciting preachings, extremist interpretations, politization of religion and misinformation. Participants also identified 11 community-based peacebuilding approaches considered as most effective. The study concluded that addressing outgroup threats for sustainable peace in Jos requires policies that hold religious leaders accountable for their actions and utterances. The findings extend understanding of how outgroup threats are shaped between religious communities to drive inter-group conflicts and erode durable peace. Thus, it is recommended that policy-makers should enact and enforce religious guidelines where religious leaders who incite hate and violence are held accountable.