SGF, CAN President harp on education as panacea to peace, nation building

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By Chimezie Godfrey

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Samson Ayokunle have harper on education as the bedrock for peace and nation building.

They made this known during the 1st Quarter Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, NIREC,
held in Abuja on Monday with the theme: “Education for Peace and Nation Building”.

Boss Mustapha who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the General Services Office, Dr Maurice Mbaeri, lamented the situation in Nigeria where children are at home due to the lingering strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

He thanked the leadership of the NIREC for meeting with ASUU twice and also with President Buhari, all in an effort to ensure that Nigerians go back to school, adding that education is the key for young people to gain the capability to drive the nation to greater heights.

According to him, “Given the theme for this quarter meeting, which is: “Education for Peace and Nation Building” at this present situation in the country where our children are still at home because of the strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), this meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the value of peace and education that can contribute to nation building.

“Let me use this opportunity to thank the Leadership of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), who has endeavoured to meet twice with the leadership of ASUU and has also met with President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the impasse so that the educational life of the nation can move forward. Basic quality education can be achieved in a peaceful environment. Education is the key for young people to gain knowledge and acquire different skills that can make the nation great.

“I want to charge the leadership of NIREC to continue on this path to appeal to ASUU to call off the strike in the interest of a safe and prosperous nation. The Education of our Children is very vital and the need to continually keep them in school is key to molding them into great leaders of tomorrow. We need to continue to teach them to have a sound and healthy mind so they can stay away from heinous crime and violence, which we are experiencing in the nation today.

“Your Eminences, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, the situation in Nigeria today calls for the deepening of political and religious collaboration at all times. As a body, we must continue to build an environment where prejudice, intolerance, violence and other vices will remain alien to our culture and practices. We must continue to expose our children to the rich and good values that Africa represents. We must continue to live together and pursue the common good as a community.”

He further assured that the Federal Government of Nigeria would continue to give all necessary support to Religious and Traditional Leaders to promote peace and unity in the country.
“It is on this note that I stand here today to assure you all that this Administration is doing everything to bequeath a safe and prosperous nation to the next one. In fact, Mr. President is very concerned about the level of insecurity and the high cost of living. He is however working on how to resolve these issues in the shortest possible time,” the SGF said.

President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Co-Chairman NIREC, Reverend Samson Ayokunle on his part, frowned at the strike action by ASUU, especially coming at a time when he and others were already in talks with the Union and President Buhari.

He decried the government’s donation of 1 million dollars to Afghanistan while it is crying over lack of funds to meet ASUU’s demand.

“For me, I am not pleased enough with ASUU because they were impatient, I and the co-chairman and others went to meet with them (ASUU), instead of them to be patient with us to know how to get the government to commit itself, they went ahead with the strike again while our intervention was going on.

“To me, that was not respectful enough, that was the reason we left them, but for how long shall we continue to allow the impasse between ASUU and the government to continue.

“Our children are the ones suffering from this, and the future, because our future is the children God has given to us. How can they be playing with the future of these children like this?

“I think the government also does not allow us to believe that they don’t have the money, it was at that time when they were saying there is no money for ASUU that the government went and donated 1 million dollars to Afghanistan. How reasonable is that, when you have your own Afghanistan at home, you have not taken care of it, you are donating to another one.

“We need to take a drastic decision about this impasse between ASUU and the federal government which is prolonging for months now without any solution”, he said.

Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chairman of NIREC, Prof Sa’ad Abubakar urged religious leaders to always condemn violence at all times, adding that religious leaders would be questioned by God in the event they fail to speak the truth.

“We have serious problems in Nigeria and the rest of the world. Nigeria is one big country; the largest black nation in the world and definitely what affects Nigeria affects other parts of the world because we are one big family created by God almighty. Whether they are fighting in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, and some other countries including Nigeria that have been experiencing unrest, we are all concerned as religious leaders because innocent people’s blood is being spilled by these actions of either state or individuals, especially bandits and terrorists.

“So we have to always speak against violence, whether it is in Sokoto, in Washington, in the church, or the mosque because as religious leaders if we don’t do so, we will face serious questions from our creator who gave us such privileges to be who we are. As religious leaders we must always speak the truth, we must not be partial in our dealings with the rest of the world, with humanity,” he said.

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