The Sultan of Sokoto/President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar, has called on security agencies to deal with criminals irrespective of their religion or tribe.
He urged Nigerians to be united and not allow themselves to be divided by external forces.
The Sultan spoke during the 10th General Assembly of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) at the Bola Babalakin Auditorium in Gbongan, Osun State.
He condemned the killings by terrorists and bandits across the country,
According to him, “There have been a lot of talks about genocide, but I’ve said it and I keep saying it, I’ve never seen it or heard of a Christian denied his right to worship.
“We are living in harmony and we are not going to allow anybody to come and break us. We should not judge anyone. What we can do is to try to be the best we can be.
“Those killing people are not Muslims but criminals and I want to urge the security operatives to apprehend and deal decisively with criminals irrespective of their religion or tribe.”
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The Sultan, who urged Nigerians to pray for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other leaders to successfully discharge their responsibilities, also congratulated MUSWEN for being an umbrella body promoting unity and dialogue among Muslims in the southwest and urged other zones to emulate them.
The Keynote speaker and Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, an engineer, said the theme of the event, “Nigeria’s Economy: Any Hope for the Masses?” aligned with the federal and state governments’ commitment to build a better country.
“President Bola Tinubu is bold and courageous to formulate sound economic policies, fiscal ingenuity, bold reforms implementation, strategic long-term plan, private sector partnership,” Sule said.
Listing the many innovative projects of his administration, including in developing a thriving economy around the state’s mining assets, Sule urged other state governments to build on their comparative advantages to deliver infrastructure, complete major projects and improve living standards.
He said the increased revenue allocation to states makes it mandatory for state executives to improve the well-being of their citizens.
He said: “You can see the positive aspects of the renewed hope economic reforms from the prices of food items and inflation. Inflation went over 30 per cent but today, inflation is getting down to about 20 per cent and the target is to go through a one digit inflation figure. This is the direction that we are going. You will see the stabilisation of the Foreign Exchange (FX) and the price of petroleum products right now. All these are positive indicators that the reforms are working. I want to urge the Muslim Ummah to continue to work together, care for each other and do everything possible to support this government,” Sule said.
Chairman of the MUSWEN Board of Trustees, Dr. Wale Babalakin, urged Muslims to uphold integrity and invest in education. According to Babalakin, the government would need to invest about 50 per cent of its annual budget in education over the next 20 years for it to raise youth able to meet 21st-century job market needs.
The President of MUSWEN, Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo, said President Tinubu’s administration should be commended for its efforts at poverty reduction and improvement in primary healthcare delivery.
He, however, urged the federal government to spend more on roads, railways and housing.
He said, “Tinubu Administration has stabilized the Nigerian economy with the implementation of his bold but painful economic reforms which have attracted global investors. These include the removal of fuel subsidies, merging of the multiple exchange rate windows into a single market rate and implementation of new measures by the Monetary Authorities to strengthen corporate governance and stabilise the Naira.
“On a good note the Federal Government should be commended for its efforts at poverty reduction and improvement in primary health care delivery. Pensions for direct benefit recipients have been increased while the number on the National Health Insurance Program has increased dramatically to 60 million people. However, the government still needs to spend more on roads, railways and housing.”
Oladejo also named Professor Wole Abass as the new Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, following the completion of Professor Muslih Yahya’s six-year tenure.
During the event, 12 medical students across the six Southwest states were awarded scholarships under the Sultan Abubakar Female Medical Students Scholarship Scheme.