By Suleiman Adamu, Sokoto
SULTAN of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has cautioned against allowing religious extremists and extremism to destabilise the country.
Abubakar made the remark in Sokoto yesterday at the opening of the 2021 National Education Summit organised by the Nigerian Army Education Corps.
The theme of the summit is ” Education and National Development Security: Issues and the Way Forward”
However, participants were drawn from the armed forces, commissioners of education from the northwest, principals and relevant stakeholder from private and public schools.
According to the revered leader who was chairman of the occasion” religious extremism is one of the most fundamental and critical challenges disturbing not only Nigeria but the global environment .
” We need to be guided by the true teachings of the two major religions in the country by acquiring the necessary knowledge “, he cautioned.
He noted that the summit and the choice of theme came at the right time when the country was bedevilled by the challenges of banditry, kidnapping and related security issues threatening the peace and survival of citizens .
He stressed the need for the summit to not only dwell on paper work but ensure the outcome were implemented to the later for the benefit of he country and citizens.
” We need to develop a system that will practically engage persons with or without the qualification requirements to become innovative and creative for development”, he urged.
Abubakar maintained that ” we have to think out of the box by also ensuring standards and excellence through the promotion of learning in local languages not attaching too much preference to English.”
The reverted monarch however, emphasised the need to commit selves to result oriented researches as critical tool for addressing challenges affecting the country’s developmental processes, noting that , was the sure way to advance forward.
In his keynote address, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Farouk Yahaya said the army remain resolute in its drive to sustaining the tempo towards ensuring security of lives and property of the Nigerians.
He explained that t were not th current security challenges were not unsurmountable, hence the need for active and responsive synergy .
” This summit is an avenue and platform that will inspire and strengthen the capacity of the army and armed forces to be professionally equipped as well others stakeholders through coordinated initiative by encouraging vigilance and revelation of vital information to the army and other security agencies.
” In this direction , we have established a department that will fundamentally operate closely with relevant stakeholders in order defeat the challenges of insecurity”, he pointed out.
General Yahaya further urged officers and participants at the summit to avail themselves the rare opportunity, describing the summit as a call to duty.
However, the Special Guest of honour and Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi rtd who described the summit as timely, said Federal Government was determined to secure and guarantee the safety of lives and property of Nigerians .
According to Magashi represented by the Director of Army in the ministry, Dr. Sunday Musa ” the security of the edicational institutions and sector is imperative to ensure excellence and sustain the tempo against the security dynamics.”
He noted that Nigerians were expecting a lot from the leadership across board, hence should not be disappointed as he urged the army education corps to continue love its stardom.
In his goodwill message, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal commended the army education corps for muting the idea of the summit and choice of theme.
He said Sokoto remains a historical reference spot as citadel of learning that was founded on knowledge,good governance and leadership.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Commander, Nigeria Army Education Corps, Major General Muhammad Lawal Augie said the summit was in line with the cardinal objective of the corps to provide opportunity for officers to professionally brace up to challenges of insecurity for nation building.
” It is a platform to ensure that our operational services are qualitative and standard in view of the current peculiarities and our critical role in providing solutions to security challenges”, he said.
He further highlighted that the summit had also carefully selected critical topics of contemporary nature to drive the desire to achieving the objective of the programme.
However, some of the topics include: Education Development and National Security: A Ministerial Prospective; Tackling Security Challenges through Peace Education in Nigeria; Emerging Trends in ICT and Cyber crime: Implication for National Security among others .
Meanwhile, the Emirs of Argungu, HRH Ismail Muhammadu Mera and Karan Namoda were among dignitaries who also witnessed the presentation of plagues of honour and commendation letters to deserving individuals in both the armed forces, personalities and others.
