Islamic Extremism and Its Challenges to the Catholic Missionary Activity in Northern Nigeria Since 1999

The study focused on the challenges that confront the Church as a result of the expression of Islamic extremism in the northern region of Nigeria. Due to the region's intractable violence, we examined the relationship that exists between Christians and Muslims as the adherents of the region's two major religions, and the Boko Haram, its origin, and modus operandi. To this end, we revealed that the relationship is characterised by suspicion, distrust, and hate which lead to violence and thus the destruction of lives and properties. The study's method was historical, expository and evaluative. We used qualitative methodology to generate the work's data which were the primary sources, while Church documents, Nigerian Catholic Bishops' communiqués, library research and other relevant materials were the secondary sources. The findings revealed that the Church continues to face challenges that includes; Islamic fundamentalism that often give rise to violence in which lives and properties are often destroyed, denial of religious freedom, refusal of lands for building of Churches, Christian cemeteries, Mission Schools etc. We thus, recommended that government, religious and traditional leaders, and all stakeholders must make the deliberate concerted efforts toward realising the enabling environment that will bring peaceful co-existence in the region. We concluded that interreligious dialogue among Christians and Muslims in the region with the attention to dialogue of life among the commoners cannot be overemphasized.