The escalating social crisis facing the north has been blamed on failure of government to enforce social justice from the family unit.
Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, stated this at the Joint National Conference of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Future Assured Initiative on ‘Repositioning the Muslim Family for National Development’, held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.
According to the royal father, problems from the homes like divorce, failure of responsibilities of fatherhood and such other things gave birth to most of the malaise in the society.
He said issues like Almajiri, drug abuse, political thuggery, violent extremism and such other social crises resulted from irresponsibility of men who take privileges of manhood, but abandoned the attendant responsibilities.
He said the crisis had been compounded by the failure of governments in about 12 states in the North, which adopted the Shari’a Legal System in 1999/2000, but failed to consider very important laws of the system that address critical family issues.
“What you deal with in parents forcing young daughters into loveless marriages, with arbitrary divorce, with the lack of care within marriage and after marriage; everyday wives are complaining about husbands who claim their rights, but do not face any of the responsibilities of marriage.
“Women being divorced with their children and husbands not taking care of the children and those children ending up on the streets, drugs, political thuggery, violent extremism.
“We speak of the Almajiri problem as if Almajiri is the problem when in fact the problem is irresponsible fathers who leave their children on the streets and it’s important that we understand what are the role and responsibility of those who have political authority, especially those at the state level, on decision.
“Perhaps, there’s no greater pointer to this when we deal with the Moslem part of this country than a simple fact that starting 1999 and 2000, at least 12 states of the North declared that they had adopted Shari’a. The interesting thing is in all those 12 states, apart from the Moslem criminal law, no other law was codified.
“The reason Allah sent His Prophets is that there should be justice in this world. Justice in our relationship with our maker and in our relationship with our fellow human beings.
“Justice means that everyone is given his rights. If a man takes the privilege of being the head of the family, he takes the responsibilities of being the provider of the family. You cannot take that privilege and abandon the responsibilities.
“Is it a fact that a father has the right to force his daughter into a loveless marriage? that you have the rights to batter you wife? you have the right to have children and push them to the streets to beg? that when you divorce your wife, you ask her and her children to pack and go back to her father’s house and that is the end”, he queried.
However, the royal father maintained that it is those in positions of governance who are charged with the responsibility of codifying and enforcing these social justice laws, which would set correction out in society.
“I can spend 100 years saying that it is wrong and un-Islamic for a man to beat his wife, but it is the governor and the State House of Assembly that should pass the law, it is the Courts and the Police that will make sure that the woman gets justice. The scholars and emirs cannot do that.
President Muhammadu Buhari said: “In this endeavour, our religious leaders and organisations are most important catalyst. They are the custodians of our values and of our social ideals. It is therefore, commendable that the Nigerian Supreme Council in collaboration with the Future Assured Initiative has risen up to this challenge.
“I, however, wish to call on all our religious leaders and organisations, both Christian and Muslim, to follow suit by redirecting important elements of their preaching and teachings on family issues with a view to broadening the sensitisation of people at the grassroots level.
“While we appreciate the significant role of the mass media and other public enlightenment channels and outfits in propagating and promoting positive values, we just have to acknowledge the fact that all these build, after all, upon the foundations that must have been laid down at home,’’ he said.
He added: “We have been conscious of the havoc poverty is wreaking on the family. We therefore believe that poverty alleviation is central to safeguarding the integrity of our families.
“Our administration introduced a number of economic empowerment and poverty alleviation schemes. Some of these directly impact on families while others have indirect effect on families through their multiplier effects.
“The first, and most robust programme, is the Social Investment Programme, which serves as a very broad framework for availing Nigerian families at the grassroots level different forms of economic support,’’ President Buhari added.
According to the President, many homes had benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer, while trader-moni and market-moni schemes have also been impactful.
”The school feeding programme has assisted immensely in supporting poor Nigerian families in getting their children enrolled and sustained in school,’’ he said.
President Buhari praised the Sultan of Sokoto, Sultan Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and Future Assured Initiative, under the leadership of Her Excellency, the First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, for the projects on marriage and family.
The First Lady said the project will identify critical marriage challenges and suggest relevant instruments for addressing them, which include sensitizing relevant stakeholders on their responsibilities.
“We have succeeded in assembling an array of Islamic scholars to further deliberate on these matters, with the belief that they will do justice to the issues,’’ she added.
The Nation.
