…Urges Concern For Future of Nigerian Children As World Population Hits 8 Billion
By Progress Godfrey
Abuja Islamic Cleric Sheikh Mohammad Khalid has said that Nigeria is in trouble considering the level of insecurity causing havoc in different parts of the country.
Sheikh Khalid said this in Abuja on Tuesday at a high-level dialogue on electoral violence prevention in Nigeria, organised by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, KAICIID Nigeria Fellows Alumni.
He said free and fair elections which usher in democracy can not be achieved when religious leaders are interested in which religion should take over government come 2023.
He said, “I know you are aware that Nigeria is already in trouble. When I say in trouble, I mean the total meaning of trouble. When people cannot stay in their homes and cannot move freely from one area of the nation to another, when schools are being attacked by bandits, when soldiers, emirs, citizens, women and children are being killed on a daily basis, you know the country is in trouble.
“But if we look at the essence of elections or democracy, it is to move from a troubled place to a safer one, it is to move from degeneration to integrity, it is all about development. It is not meant to increase the problem of the people therefore if election is one of the tools for electing government, we must make sure that our elections are free and fair. Free and fair elections cannot be done when religious leaders have not understood the importance of coming together.
“It is a time where we have started sending wrong signals to the world, instead of us to discuss about how to save our land, we have started discussing that the church must rule the country or the mosque must takeover; this a wrong signal.
According to him, religious leaders should be more concerned about the county’s security, dilapidated education as well as women and children. “We have to protect them, we have to assure that we are creating a future for our children.”
He therefore implored religious institutions to be more conscious in protecting the future of Nigerian children especially in the North as world population clocked 8 billion Tuesday 15 November 2022.
“Why are we not conscious about the future of our children, especially the unborn children? Today the world is celebrating an increment in population from 7 to 8 billion people.
“One of the factors of the increment of population in the world is that Africa is good in reproduction, that is the trouble especially in Nigeria, particularly in the Northern part of Nigeria; we are very good in reproduction. It is a bitter fact that we are not concerned about the life of the children we are reproducing. It is high time we started doing something, ” he added.
