The Obafemi Awolowo University Muslim Graduates Association (UNIFEMGA) has recommended the adoption of the Islamic concept of leadership in Nigeria through the institutionalization of the principles of integrity, honesty and competence rather than favouritism.
UNIFEMGA made the recommendation in a statement following its 2022 National Reunion Conference held at Obafemi Awolowo University (OUA), Ile-Ife.
At the conference, the association presented scholarships and grants worth N8.075 million to 105 undergraduate and postgraduate students of the university.
According to UNIFEMGA, it has disbursed a total of N50 million to around 850 students at the institution so far.
The association, in the statement, signed by its national president, AbdulFattah Olanlege and national public relations officer, Shamsudeen Adenopo, also called for increased involvement of Muslims, especially the elite among them, in politics and the electoral process, saying it should be seen as a necessity and an act of worship.
UNIFEMGA lamented that “The failure of leadership in Nigeria has caused us a lot of challenges. We have witnessed civil unrest, insurgency, banditry, kidnappings, corruption, economic downturn, political roguery and social disorder.
He said: “The series of security crises we are witnessing in the country are largely due to the callousness on the part of our leaders, the incompetence of intelligence gathering on the part of the security agencies that constitute a great challenge to good governance and a threat to democracy in the country.
“The three levels of government in Nigeria must ensure that the lives and property of all citizens of the country are safe. This is important, because it is only when there is national security that development can take place.
“We strongly condemn the terrorist acts in some parts of the country, the mob, the jungle and the selective killings of innocent Nigerians and advise the Federal Government to avoid the current stereotype of categorizing it as a religious issue. It is more a political, ethnic and economic question.
The association urged the private sector to urgently partner with the government for the education of Nigerians and the correction of the country’s “infrastructural deficit”.
He also said employment opportunities should be provided to the many unemployed young Nigerians “who are being used as instruments of violence by selfish and unpatriotic individuals.”
The meeting lecture was delivered by Ishaq Lakin Akintola, Professor of Islamic Eschatology and Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), with a retired Police Commissioner, Yinka Balogun, as the President of the occasion and the Governor Gboyega Oyetola from Osun State, represented by his Special Advisor for Education, Alhaji Jamiu Olawunmi, as guest of honour.
The association also held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) where its activities over the past year were reviewed and the continuation of the current National Executive Committee was ratified.
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