Nigeria is a multi-religious country whose multi-religious make up has been crossed over with ethnic, political, and socio-economic tensions resulting in most occasions conflict. These narratives in the media and popular conversation have occasionally articulated religion as a source of division disregarding its communicative capacity to build peace. This paper addresses the concept of interfaith initiatives as a way of building peace in Nigeria using the strategies of public relations and peace communication. It evaluates the application of strategic communication by religious actors to promote dialogue, trust and social cohesion by a multi-religious society. The study will be based on a qualitative research design, in which the content analysis of documents on interfaith programs, public communiques, media information, policy documents, and online resources will be conducted regarding the interreligious engagement in Nigeria. The patterns of communication, stakeholder participation, and message framing in the chosen interfaith initiatives are explored on the basis of a case-based approach. The findings found that interfaith initiatives employ basic PR practices of dialogic communication, management of stakeholder relationships, strategic message formulation, and media involvement to then foster harmonious living. These measures can be used to combat misinformation, diminish the effect of religious stereotyping, and communicate the importance of common values of unity and tolerance in both the traditional and digital media. The research drawing comes to the conclusion that the effectiveness of interfaith initiatives in Nigeria is determined by the role of PR and peace communication. Religious communication carefully utilized can make religion a source of tension to one that will bring sustainable peace and social integration in multi-religious societies.

Public Relations, Peace Communication, Multi-Religious Society, Interfaith Initiatives, Nigeria

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