UNIFEMGA gives antidotes to Nigeria’s security challenges

FOR Nigeria to surmount the present challenges besetting it, particularly in the area of security, the leaders and the led must increase their piety and be advocates and practitioners of the best practices – political, social and otherwise.

The Balogun Mumini of Yorubaland, Alhaji Rasheed Adesokan, stated this at the 13th biennial conference of the Obafemi Awolowo University Muslim Graduates Association (UNIFEMGA), Ibadan (Oyo State) chapter, held last weekend at the Bodija Estates and Environs Muslim Community Islamic Centre.

Adesokan, speaking on the theme of the conference, “Islamic Antidotes to the Current Security Challenges in the Country,” said it was important for Nigerians to be aware of Allah’s dos and don’ts and appreciate the fact that He has the final say in all issues and in all cases.

At the event chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Environment, Dr Bashir Olanrewaju, Adesokan emphasised the need for the citizens to cooperate with the government in dealing with the present security situation and other problems in the country and urged the government to also play its part well.

Adesokan, who is the Director General of the Centre for Islamic Information and Youth Development, lamented the prevailing joblessness among youths which, he said, was predisposing many of them to crime and other illegal activities and making them become a major challenge to national security.

He asked the government to cushion the present harsh effect of poverty to reduce the level of hostility of people towards it, adding that the government must fashion ways of feeling the pulse of the citizenry and swiftly reacting to issues bothering them.

The security expert urged the government to increase the numerical strength of the armed forces and the police so that they could be better positioned to cope with the enormity of the security challenges bedeviling the country.

According to Adesokan, the North-East region remains the greatest threat to peace and security in Nigeria and too large to be manned effectively by the security forces.

He appealed to the people to understand the plight of the government and called for concerted effort to quell the security challenges, real or perceived, some of which, he said, were so serious that they were capable of threatening the corporate existence of the country.

At the conference, a new executive committee for the Ibadan chapter of UNIFEMGA, led by Mr Ismail Kamil, was inaugurated.