…Be Proactive In Addressing Challenges, Sultan of Sokoto Tells Buhari, Other Leaders of Thought
Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi, on Thursday, maintained his position against Almajiri system in the north, insisting that no law compels any Muslim to enter into marriage, have children only to abandon them to their fate.
His observation came against the backdrop of menace caused by Almajiri system of education in the north, where children of school age go cap in hand begging for alms.
For Sanusi, there was an urgent need for the enactment of laws by state governments to tackle injustices in marriages just as he recommended the arrest of any parent that sends out his child as Almajiri to beg for alms.
“Men should learn to take full responsibility for their marriages, especially in economic terms, by marrying only when they can take care of a wife, and having children they can cater for,” he stated.
He gave the call while speaking at a conference for repositioning the Muslim family for national development, attended by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja on Thursday.
According to the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, any man that was too poor to take care of his family should go out and beg himself and not send his child.
Sanusi’s views was however corroborated by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar who urged thought leaders in the north to show proactiveness in dealing with developmental issues affecting them.
According to him, the region was not short of ideas to spur growth, rather what was lacking was a political will to implement resolutions that arises from such conferences.
His words, “there should be implementation of resolutions reached at this particular programme. We have always said we are not short of recommendations or resolutions at various conferences and fora but what we lack is implementation. We hardly implement what we have agreed to do.
“Mr. President as the commander in chief, as a retired general and I know you are not tired. I think you should give matching orders to governors of the federal republic of Nigeria to implement decisions reached at this conference and all our conferences, if not you have that big stick on any of the governor who refuse to do a,b,c,d on what you instruct them to do.
“I believe we must pass that stage of having these high level meetings, come out with excellent recommendations on how to solve problems and then go home and sleep. We must start solving our problems because nobody from any part of the world will come and solve the problem for us.
“No matter how big a governor is, he is not bigger than Nigeria, no matter how big an individual is, whether educated or powerful, he cannot be bigger than Nigeria. We should all know that is Nigeria first, we must solve our problems ourselves because we all know what the problems are.
“Issues of drugs, high rate of divorces amongst our people is a serious issue that concerns all of us. Why do we have high divorce rate, why do we have so many people not married, these are the issues on top of the agenda of the First Lady must be looked into and addressed.
“To the First Lady, we want to see one year from now when you will be marking a special year in the world, we want to see how far we can implement some of these programmes you came up with”.
But President Buhari said Christian and Muslim leaders should be more focused on issues that strengthen the family unit, which has a multiplier effect in building sustainable society, describing it as “custodians of our values and of social ideals’’.
The President noted that the family provides the bedrock for any society, hence deserved more attention in Nigeria.
“In this endeavour, our religious leaders and organizations are most important catalyst. They are the custodians of our values and of our social ideals. It is therefore, commendable that the Nigerian Supreme Council in collaboration with the Future Assured Initiative has risen up to this challenge.
“I, however, wish to call on all our religious leaders and organizations, both Christian and Muslim, to follow suit by redirecting important elements of their preaching and teachings on family issues with a view to broadening the sensitization of people at the grassroots level,’’ he said.
The President said the government would also put more effort in ensuring economic support, and empowering of family members for more stability.
“We have been conscious of the havoc poverty is wreaking on the family. We therefore believe that poverty alleviation is central to safeguarding the integrity of our families.
“Our administration introduced a number of economic empowerment and poverty alleviation schemes. Some of these directly impact on families while others have indirect effect on families through their multiplier effects”.
The Senate President, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, said the Universal Basic Education should be fully implemented to compel parents to send their children to school, assuring that the National Assembly will work with the Executive to ensure compliance.
