Sectarian violence

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said the sectarian violence rocking the country was worse than the civil war that killed over one million people during the 1960s.

"The situation we have in our hands is even worse than the civil war that we fought," Jonathan said at a church service. "During the civil war, we knew and we could even predict where the enemy was coming from. But the challenge we have today is more complicated."

The president also said that the Nigerian government included sympathizers with Islamist terror group Boko Haram.

"Some of the them are in the executive arm of government, some of them are in the parliamentary arm of government, while some of them are even in the judiciary," he said. "Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies."

Survival of the nation

Jonathan's comments came just a day after he addressed the nation in a television speech appealing to the country to accept the economic reforms he is trying to push through.

"I feel the pain that you all feel," he said in his TV address. "I know that these are not easy times. But tough choices have to be made to safeguard the economy and our collective survival as a nation."

Part of the government's controversial austerity measures is the cancellation of fuel subsidies, which is likely to double the price of fuel. The reforms have already lead to widespread protests and trade unions have announced a general strike for Monday.

Despite being Africa's biggest oil producer, most of Nigeria's population lives in poverty. The government says the austerity measures proposed are needed for investments in infrastructure, healthcare and education.

North vs. south

The country's economic hardship has also added to the rift between the largely Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south. As the north is poorer, radical Islamist group Boko Haram finds it increasingly easy to recruit young men to commit bloody sectarian violence.

A series of bomb attacks on churches on Christmas Day killed more than 40 people and injured dozens of others.

Despite a state of emergency and curfews in the volatile north, the situation continues to worsen. Boko Haram has repeatedly warned Christians to leave the north and has backed up its threat with more violent attacks. As Christians are fleeing south, Muslims are moving north in fear of reprisal attacks.

Ayodele Oritsejafor, president of the Christan Association of Nigeria, has also likened the current violence to the 1960s civil war and described it as "ethnic and religious cleansing."

Author: Andreas Illmer (dpa, AFP)
Editor: Ben Knight