Amid rising insecurity in northern Nigeria, religious leaders are pushing for the establishment of a Ministry for Religion and Chieftaincy Affairs, urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to heed their call.
At a conference, focused on tackling poverty in the region organized by Arewa New Agenda (ANA) in Abuja, Bishop of Methodist Diocese Asokoro Rev Dr. Ishaya Kunama, stressed the immediate need to tackle the underlying causes of insecurity, poverty, and hardship in the country.
Kunama emphasized the importance of nurturing national unity and fostering respect among diverse religious and ethnic groups, particularly among the youth.
Highlighting the historical reverence for traditional rulers, Kunama advocated for empowering these institutions to address security challenges, especially at the grassroots level.
He urged the federal government to establish the Ministry for Religion and Chieftaincy Affairs, enabling traditional leaders to effectively manage communal conflicts and disputes, including those between smallholder farmers.
He concluded by emphasizing the pivotal role of traditional institutions in achieving lasting peace and development, urging President Tinubu to prioritize the establishment of the ministry to confront the nation’s pressing security issues head-on.
Meanwhile, former deputy speaker house of representatives Hon. Babangida SM Nguroje, said another critical aspect when we talk of eradicating poverty and addressing the vulnerability households in north first the state governors should also consider open doors for investment for our people’s especially in academically basics social amenities scholarship soft loans infrastructure development for our peoples.
He said, for instant in south east region we can’t compare the development in South South and the North region when someone build factory he helped his upcoming ones to growth so we need to help our incoming generations to deviate them from joining terrorist organisation banditry kidnapping and Boko Haram amongst other.
“He advised the business owners to invest in the North religion and build factories so that our peoples can engage in working daily basis rather than joining terrorist group. He said fighting corruption can not be achieve except we agreed to check our perception. So we in the North both Christians and Muslim and others believers should agree on setting up agenda to build peace and sustain stability on the country.”
