Joseph Hayab

I was born in a village in Nigeria, but I grew up in the barracks while my father was as a soldier in the Nigerian Army. I attended Baptist Theological Seminary Kaduna to train to become a clergyman and now I have been a cleric of the Nigerian Baptist Convention since May 1996. It was during my years in Kaduna that my involvement with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) deepened. Through my work with CAN, I became profoundly involved in peacebuilding following years of continued ethnoreligious crises which engulfed northern Nigeria and resulted in countless deaths and enormous loss of properties. Besides promoting peace and conflict resolution, I firmly believe that crises associated with religion are preventable when adherents of various faiths learn to respect one another’s beliefs. My view is that people in society can interact freely with individuals who share different faiths, beliefs or cultures when regard for human dignity becomes the ultimate. In order to achieve this goal, I engage communities and persons in leadership positions in dialogue aimed at resolving religiously related crises thereby promoting freedom of worship, human rights and good governance. I am currently a leading facilitator and co-coordinator in forums and workshops in Kaduna State for Global Peace Foundation, Nigeria, “One Family under God” campaign for a peaceable society.