Buhari warns against ethnic and religious prejudices

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja warned that his ad­ministration would not tol­erate ethnic and religious prejudices in the country.

According to Daily Independent, the president noted that prejudices would not augur well for the development of the nation, adding that his administration would con­tinue to create an enabling environment for religious freedom as guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution.

He spoke when the lead­ership of the Nigerian Su­preme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) led by its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, His Emi­nence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, paid him a courtesy call.

President Buhari said: “The Federal Government will continue to promote religious freedom as it is a constitutional responsi­bility.

“I must thank the Mus­lim Ummah for promoting inter-religious dialogue in the country.

“It is self-evident that if the country must work, we must continue to work together in spite of our eth­nic, religious, and political differences because Nige­ria is our collective project.

“Accordingly, the Feder­al Government under my leadership does not and will not allow religious prejudice or partisanship to influence any of its deci­sions and policies. It is my solemn decision to be fair and just to all segments of society.”

The president assured the delegation that gov­ernment was doing all in its powers to bring the cur­rent state of insecurity to the barest minimum, call­ing on local communities to assist security forces as they perform their roles.

“The Federal Govern­ment has worked tireless­ly to combat insecurity and other challenges that are confronting the country.

“Security is a protracted problem but we are not re­lenting in our efforts. Not only are we equipping the military, we are also boost­ing their morale to perform their constitutional duties without undue interfer­ence.

“We are also encourag­ing locals to enhance their intelligence gathering and timely remitting to the se­curity agencies.

“I acknowledge that se­curity is the first respon­sibility of government but government cannot do it alone. It requires stake­holders, such as yourselves.

“Therefore, I urge you to lend your support to the se­curity agencies by provid­ing information that may stem the tide of crimes and insecurity in the society,” he said.
He also spoke on the ef­forts of his administration towards making life better for the average Nigerian.

“We are diversifying the economy and putting ap­propriate mechanisms in place to reduce poverty and more fiercely combat cor­ruption, regardless of the status of those involved.

“Programmes such as N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfer, Govern­ment Enterprise and Em­powerment Programme, and Home-Grown School Feeding are just some of the interventions made to empower Nigerians and cater for their needs.

“The National Social Investment Programme alone has directly benefit­ed four million Nigerians through job training and financial assistance”, the president said.

President Buhari called on the leaders to continue “speaking to our people and to help amplify this message through your very tried and tested net­works” and to give full backing to the Alternate School Programme which he launched on Tuesday.

He said it was “designed to not only address our high out of school rates, but it will boost our lev­els of girl-child education while also equipping our youth with the right tools in making decisions at ev­ery turn of their lives when confronted by peddlers of evil and hateful messag­es… and also address the public health crisis that the world is currently facing”.

The president used the opportunity to appeal to Nigerians to support the government’s efforts on COVID-19.

According to him, “As government continues to work towards managing this crisis, it is also critical that you lend your voices in support of those basic but fundamental protocols that can significantly curtail the spread of this disease – washing of our hands, using facemasks and en­suring social distancing as much as possible have been proven to be our first line of defence in the fight against this virus.

“Furthermore and much more important, when the vaccines which we are working hard to pro­cure for the nation arrive, please, please join in the drive to educate people that these vaccines are meant to save lives and protect everyone.”

Earlier in his address, Sultan Abubakar com­mended the president for the successes achieved so far in the North East, call­ing on the government to deal decisively with the banditry that is ravaging the North Western states of Zamfara, Katsina, Soko­to and some parts of the North Central.

While expressing confi­dence that security forces, with better synergy among them, will overcome the present challenges, he so­licited for the cooperation of all the governors with the Federal Government, irrespective of their polit­ical leanings, calling on Ni­gerians to support the new leadership of the armed forces.

The NSCIA leader also appealed to Nigerians, par­ticularly religious leaders, to refrain from making inflammatory comments that tend towards sowing discord in the polity and exacerbating the current level of insecurity in the land.

He asked that religious leaders making subversive comments be called to or­der.
The Sultan equally iden­tified with the ‘Hate Speech Campaign’ of the Minister of Information and Cul­ture.

He said ‘Hate Speech’ is aggravating insecurity in the country and that “we have to act”.