The President of Nigeria has met with a group of Nigerian bishops to discuss the recent killings by Fulani herdsmen and issues of security.
"We are here to offer our advice as church people from our own perspective to the president on the current national situation", Archbishop Nicholas Okoh told Anglican News following the meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
"We told him many things. We are all looking for solution to issues of the herdsmen, issue of vandalism, security in one way or the other because the people are asking us and we want to have explanation for the people whom we lead."
There have been regular attacks by Fulani militia and herdsmen, who are mostly Muslim, on farmers in the central states of Nigeria, who are mostly Christian. The states are where the largely Christian south meets the mainly Muslim north.
According to the Igbo Youth Movement, Fulani herdsmen have murdered more than 700 Nigerians in the last 10 months, with the government taking little action to halt the killings.
The Archbishop said that after the meeting he is hopeful that over the next year the situation would improve across the country.
"We believe that so far it's been okay because of the difficulties of the times and between now and the next one year we are looking forward to something more direct now, something that will get to the people easily," he said.
"The next one we know will be better."
The fate of the more than two hundred kidnapped schoolgirls from Chibok, who are believed to remain hostages of militant group Boko Haram, was also discussed during the meeting.
Buhari reportedly assured the bishops that their safe return remained a priority for the government.
