Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, has enjoined Nigerians, irrespective of class, tribe, or religion, to shun greed and maintain integrity in all sectors for the country to experience the growth and development everyone hopes for.
The deputy governor made the call on Saturday at the Opening Ceremony of the 36th Triennial National Conference of the Muslim Association of Nigeria (MAN), themed “Nigeria and the Prospects of Socio-Economic Stability,” held at the headquarters of the association in Surulere, Lagos.
Hamzat, while noting that love for one’s country was key, urged Nigerians to ensure that for their country and further urged all sectors of the citizens to maintain integrity and shun greed.
“The love of our country is very important. We must love our country, and all sectors must maintain integrity; we must all cut greed,” he said.
Speaking further, Dr Hamzat charged Muslim clergy and other religious leaders in the country to always base their teachings on values and topics that offer solutions to contemporary issues in order to bring about the necessary social changes needed for the growth and development of the country.
He said that they should always use religion to preach peace and bring people together for the upliftment of the country, rather than using it to bring disunity among citizens of the country.
The deputy governor, while stressing the importance of the family unit in the overall development of the nation, said that nothing can lead to development when the family unit is broken.
He, therefore, admonished parents to take good care of their children and train them to know the essence of life and shun social vices, saying that they should always know that hard work pays.
Besides, he also urged them to ensure that the family unit takes its rightful position in society as of old, where everyone knew his or her responsibility and effectively discharged it, adding that parents must teach their children their languages, morals, and values as, according to him, losing the values will amount to losing ourselves.
“If we lose our values, we will lose ourselves,” he warned.
Speaking on the theme of the conference, “Nigeria and the Prospects of Socio-Economic Stability,” the Guest Lecturer, Dr. Saheed Timehin of the Department of Foreign Languages, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo stressed the need for a new socio-economic ideology to meet the challenging order in the country.
The guest lecturer noted that the major problem of the country is value change, saying this was the reason many times when the government made a policy, it was difficult to relate to such policy because people’s attitudes, in actual fact, were not what they ought to be.
“If one looks at the interjectivity of what has happened since independence, one will note that Nigeria really needs a change in the attitude of the citizenry.
“This is the reason many times when the government makes a policy, it is difficult to relate to such policy because, in actual facts, our attitudes are not what they should be,” he said.
This was just as Dr Timehin noted that there was something fundamental that had changed in the way Nigerians now trained their children, saying sadly that material gain was now celebrated over good character and values.
Dr. Timehin therefore emphasised the need for Nigeria as a nation to change the way the citizens train their “children who are leaders of tomorrow, as it is very important that we train generations that value hard work and know that Allah ties success, growth, and prosperity to hard work and not by shortcuts or money rituals.”
The Guest Lecturer, while charging Muslims to be conscious in their deeds as everyone would give an account of all they did both on earth and thereafter, enjoined them to always compete with what was good and not evil.
President, Muslim Association of Nigeria (MAN), Alhaji Tajudeen Olajide Ojikutu, said in his welcome address that the association was established to, among other things, cater for the spiritual, moral, and socioeconomic needs of Muslim Ummah, cooperate with other Muslim organisations for the propagation of Islamic faith, and promote education and scholarship among the generality of Muslims.
Ojikutu added that to sustain the stated objectives, the association had embarked on proper branding to make it relevant, vibrant, and development-oriented in the community of Islamic associations.
According to him, the association has ensured the placement of education on the front burner through the formation of a national education board as well as the enhancement and continuous sustenance of the laid-out design of the association’s developmental process.
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