Prayer diary: Nigeria

There has been a terrifying rise in religiously-motivated violence, particularly in north-eastern Nigeria. According to President Jonathan, the latest upsurge in violence by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram has claimed 12,000 lives since 2010, with over 2,000 dying in the first half of 2014. At the time of writing, an estimated 219 of the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in April are still missing, and according to the UN, over 300,000 Nigerians have been displaced by violence carried out by Boko Haram, as well as by increasingly well-armed Fulani herders, since May 2013.

For many non-Muslims in northern and central Nigeria, daily life consists of a veneer of normality that barely conceals an underlying reality of chronic discrimination and tension which periodically erupts into deadly, but organised, violence.

This week, please…

• Ask for God’s mercy upon Nigeria, for wisdom for its leaders, and for the nation to unite against an enemy that threatens its very existence;
• Ask God to strengthen and encourage the military and to expose those who are assisting the insurgency;
• Pray for the safe release of the 219 schoolgirls and all others who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram;
• Ask God to change the hearts of the terrorist group Boko Haram and the Fulani herders, so that they embrace peace;
• Thank God for other countries that have pledged assistance to Nigeria, and pray that they would be given wisdom in how best to help;
• Pray that all those who have been displaced would be able to access safety and provision;
• Pray against any upsurge in religiously-motivated violence in the run-up to elections in 2015.