The Nation Newspaper

Tag: co-existence

  • ‘Good governance aid peaceful co-existence’

    ‘Good governance aid peaceful co-existence’

    Stakeholders at a peace conference have agreed good governance is criterion to peaceful co-existence.

     The conference: ‘Interfaith Peaceful Co-existence’, by Christian Youths in Politics (CYP), brought together Christians, Muslims, traditionalists and politicians at Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja.

     Chieftain of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Olufemi Ajadi, urged governments to provide good governance, which, he said, could foster peaceful co-existence among religious and ethnic groups.

     Ajadi, organising committee chairman, said for Nigerians to enjoy peaceful co-existence, the government must promote equity and fairness in allocation of resources, pursue even development and provide social welfare to citizens.

    Read Also: FG, labour to meet on 15-point MoU implementation

     CYP President, Kolawole Princess, said the conference was aimed at ensuring peaceful co-existence among Christians, Muslims and traditionalists. 

     Special Assistant to Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on InterFaith Affairs, Olufemi Ibikunle, said politicians should not divide people along religious lines.

     He said: “You can peacefully seek votes, but please don’t divide us. Let us live in peace, we are one people, irrespective of religious differences.”  The conference was also attended by Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, represented by Onifeguwa of Ifeguwa, Oba Solomon Adedire, representative of Lagos and Oyo governments, among others.

  • Ambode hails Lagosians on peaceful co-existence

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has said the peace, harmony and development enjoy in the state was due to the people’s prayers.

    He made the remark at the special prayer for President Muhammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Ambode by the League of Imams in Epe. He was represented by his Special Adviser on Religious Matter Dr Verralls Kolawole.

    He noted that the effort of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIRC) was yielding the desired results. He explained that government would continue to provide the necessary support to ensure that peace subsist in the state.

    He said: “All that we have around us today especially in Lagos State is due to God’s intervention. Lagos is one of the few states that is enjoying relative peace in the country and its transformational agenda is moving on smoothly.

    “When people are talking about economic recession, Lagos has not observed that. God is behind it, the peace, progress and economic development enjoyed in Lagos is due to the fact that people are praying in Lagos State. What the League of Imam is doing in Epe is to put it on record that Lagos depends on God.”

    Ambode urged Lagosians to pray and show the same zeal in their civic responsibilities, noting that they have to get their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) to actualise his endorsement.

    Facilitator of the prayer, Chief Lanre Rasak said the leaders need prayer at this moment than in the past. He added that Nigerian must rise to the occasion and continue to pray for the country especially during this holy month of Ramadan.

    He added that what is happening in different parts of the country is worrisome.

    Rasak said: “Our leaders need prayer, we need to pray for Buhari who is at the helm of affairs. We should support Asiwaju Tinubu with prayer for God to continue to guide him and given the role he plays in the polity.

    “As for Ambode, he has been not disappointed the people and it is only God that can sustain that. Lagosians should continue to see themselves as brothers and sister. We pray that God sustain this tempo of development in our dear state,” he said.

  • Kashamu preaches love, peaceful co-existence

    Kashamu preaches love, peaceful co-existence

    As Christians join others around the world to celebrate Christmas, the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Buruji Kashamu has called for love as a prelude to the entrenchment of sustainable peace in the country.

    In his goodwill message at Christmas, Kashamu  urged Nigerians to also see the season as an opportunity to reach out to fellow Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religion and other cleavages.

    The statement reads:  “The annual commemoration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ is a most auspicious time for us, as individuals and as a nation, to rededicate ourselves to the virtues and ideals which the Messiah preached and exemplified during his earthly ministry.

    “Christmas is not only about the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is also the celebration of the greatest gift to mankind. Therefore, let us seize this moment to reach out to fellow Nigerians. Let us promote the things that unite us as a people rather than those that divide The Us along ethnic, religious and party lines.

    “I enjoin us all to resolve this Christmas to make the ideals of peace, harmony, tolerance, love and goodwill to all even more manifest in our interactions with others. The season of Christmas is one that exemplifies the virtues of love and peaceful co-existence. We must continue to extend a hand of love, kindness and live as one big family irrespective of our  beliefs and leanings. We must also continue to respect one another; respect for one another is a key element for national peace and growth.”

  • North’s governors seek peaceful co-existence

    The Northern States’ Governors’ Forum (NSGF) has urged Muslims to strengthen peaceful coexistence and good neighbourliness.

    The Chairman of the forum and Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu gave the advice in his Eid-El-Kabir message.

    He said Nigerians must reflect on the various challenges facing the nation and work collectively to surmount them.

    Aliyu said: “The challenges confronting the nation require the cooperation of all if the country is to achieve meaningful progress and development.”

    In a statement by the spokesman of forum’s chairman, Malam Danladi Ndayebo, the NSGF Chairman said the Sallah celebration provides another opportunity for Nigerians to reflect on the essence of sacrifice, selfless service and total submission to Allah.

    He noted that these were the conditions for harmonious coexistence and development of the nation.

    Aliyu urged Muslims and non-Muslims to use the Eid-el-Kabir to forgive and love one another.

    The governor urged Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of peace, sacrifice, love and tolerance, which are the hallmarks of the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

    The forum chairman advised Nigerians to support governments at all levels to enable those in positions of authority to do more for the people.

    Also, Niger State Speaker Barister Adamu Usman urged Muslims to emulate the virtues and attributes of Prophet Ibrahim.

    These, he said, include obedience, loyalty, humility, and sacrifice.

    The Speaker said these earned him the pleasure of Allah.

    Usman said Muslims should spend this Eid-el-Kabir to reflect on how they could bring the ideals and virtues of their religious beliefs to offer positive solutions to the challenges facing the nation.

     

  • 2,300 days: Fashola renders stewardship, urges mutual co-existence

    LAGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), yesterday rendered the account of the stewardship of his administration in the last 100 days with an appeal to the citizenry for support, mutual co-existence, ethnic and religious tolerance, as well as obedience to law and order.

    Addressing a capacity audience at the LTV Blue Roof Hall on Agidingbi Road, Fashola said the continued development and transformation of the state would only be possible with the full cooperation of the citizenry in terms of maintenance of peace, law and order.

    The governor, who enumerated the various projects executed across the state, said major impacts were already being felt in the health and education sectors and also in the area of infrastructural development.

    According to the governor, such projects include the completion of the Trauma and Burns Centre in Gbagada, two more flagship Primary Health Care Centres in Eredo Epe and in Itire, the Folarin Coker Health Centre for public servants in Alausa, the street light of Carter Bridge, the progress in the Technical and Vocational Education Colleges as reported during the State’s Enterprise Day and the reports from the education sector at the Annual Governor’s Education Award.

    Governor Fashola explained that of the two supplementary budgets presented by the government after the second quarter, the first, with the size of N7 billion, was to enable government finance the building of more houses under the Lagos Homes Scheme, while the second, amounting to N7.5 billion was for the early acquisition of the Lekki Concession as provided under the Concession Agreement “in a way that helps us to keep investor confidence and control any possible increase in the toll fees.”

    Expressing optimistism that his administration is heading in the right direction in terms of its new education policies, the governor added, “I am also able to report that we have received the results for 2013 WAEC Examinations which show that out of 51,604 students who sat for the examination, 21,193 secured the five credits in Mathematics and English in one sitting representing, according to him, a 41.06% pass rate over the 39% of last year.

    On security, the governor, who said there has been an aggregate reduction in crime in the state, however, noted, “In a world that is getting increasingly complex and where no nation is crime-free,” the state was getting its own fair share of problems associated with population increase with some of its citizens falling victims to crimilals.

    Another area where progress was recorded during the last 100 days, Fashola said, is in the transportation sector where, according to him, “the commitment of government in improving efficiency in public transportation is yielding results”. Such results include the recent formal handing over of the 7kilometer Ibeshe Road, the over 200 inner city roads currently under construction across the State and the on-going resuscitation of five ferries retrieved from the Lagos Lagoon.

     

  • Aregbesola, Wada seek peaceful co-existence

    Governors Rauf Aregbesola of Osun and Idris Wada of Kogi States have called on Muslims to pray for the country’s peaceful existence during the Ramadan.

    The governors made the call in their separate remarks at the annual Ramadan lecture organised by the Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society in Abuja.

    Aregbesola, who chaired the occasion, described Ramadan as a season for sober reflection when the prayers of Muslims were speedily granted by God.

    He enjoined Muslims to use the holy month for spiritual rejuvenation and dedication to the peace, unity and development of the nation.

    He said: “Ramadan is the best season on earth; it is a time when life is easier and our prayers granted faster. We must therefore avail ourselves of this opportunity and pray for the peace, unity and development of this nation.”

    The governor, who decried the spate of insecurity and underdevelopment in the country, called on Muslims to be in the fore front of nation-building.

    He stressed the need for Muslims to acquire both Islamic and western education, for them to make any meaningful change in the society.

    He urged Islamic organisations like Al-Habibiyyah to continue to contribute their quota to national growth through lectures and advocacy.

    Earlier, Governor Wada stressed the need for unity among Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic or religious creed.

    He urged Muslims to use the Ramadan period to be closer to Allah and shun all manner of vices.

    “We have to use this period (Ramadan) to be united and faithful to God; we must do as much good to everyone and think of the unity, peace and progress of our country. We should think of how best we can move our nation forward,” he said.

    The Kogi State Governor urged Muslims to use the period to feed and help the poor and needy in the society.

    The Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Mallam Mohammad Bello, who delivered a lecture, urged Muslims to be upright in their endeavours.

    “Ramadan is the right time for us to reflect on how to get things right; it is the duty of every Muslim to worship Allah according to the dictates of the glorious Qu’ran and the Sunnah,” he said.

    He urged prospective pilgrims to hajj to have the right intention and follow the rules and procedure for pilgrimage.

    Represented by Secretary of the commission, Dr Bello Tambuwal, he said NAHCON had been striving over the years to make hajj hitch-free in the country.

    The Chief Imam of Al-Habibiyyah Mosque, Alhaji Fuad Adeyemi, said the organisation’s goal was to enlighten Muslims on Islam and contribute to national development.

    He said it had introduced various programmes such as the Al-Habibiyyah food bank, zakat foundation, Arabic for beginners, street to school programme, to touch the lives of both Muslims and non-Muslims.

    The lecture was attended by Islamic scholars, traditional rulers, politicians, civil servants and Muslims from all walks of life.

  • ‘Peaceful co-existence is Yoruba’s gift to the world’

    Governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) yesterday said the world can enjoy unconditional peace, if the Yoruba’s socio-religious disposition can be imbibed.

    They spoke at the public presentation of two books written by Jacob Kehinde Olupona, a professor at Harvard University School of Divinity. The books are: City of 201 gods: Ile-Ife in time, space and the imagination and In my father’s parsonage: The story of an Anglican family in Yoruba-speaking Nigeria.

    Fayemi, an advocate of Southwest integration, lamented the waning of institutional structures and Yoruba cultural values.

    He advocated support for every initiative that would reinvigorate the culture.

    Fayemi said: “So many problems the world face today are strange to the Yoruba culture. We have something to offer the world and we must not throw it away. Those who know the culture should not shy away from documenting it.”

    Aregbesola said: “If there is anything the Yoruba race can give to the world, it is accommodation and religious tolerance. We are a people with a distinction that must be an example to the world. We allow multiplicity of religion in the home.”

    Prof. Olupona called for the establishment of a Yoruba Hall of Fame and promised to dedicate the proceeds from the sales of the books to a foundation established in memory of his parents, the Michael and Herientta Olupona Foundation.

    He said the foundation, among other social development projects, would build a world-class institute for cultural and religious studies in Ile-Ife, a project the two governors affirmed would be supported by Southwest governors.

    “On behalf of all the governors in this region, Ondo inclusive, we will adopt this book as a must-read in all our senior secondary schools,” Aregbesola said.

    The title on Ile-Ife, according to the reviewer, Prof. Wale Adebanwi, explains “why a true Yoruba can never be a religious fundamentalist because a people with 201 gods cannot have a problem coexisting with one more god.”

    At the presentation, chaired by Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, were the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Sir Ayo Adebanjo, and many royal fathers across the Southwest.