Sultan Appeals To Nigerian Politicians On Campaign Funds

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, on Monday urged Nigerian politicians to channel billions of naira spent on political campaign to educate the populace.

Sultan Abubakar, who spoke in Lagos at the Centenary celebrations of Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory, also advocated for the teaching of students in indigenous languages.

He said: “We need to start teaching our students with local languages. When you travel to Japan or China their students are taught in local languages and we can all see what they have become today in area of development. Why don’t we look at the way of educating our children in local languages that we think they will easily understand? The end justified the means, the important thing is the result, how you achieve it doesn’t matter.

“I want to challenge our political leaders that the billions they spend on political campaigns for offices should be channelled into education. When this heavy amount of money is channelled into educating millions of people and they have job to do, when it comes to election, you don’t need to reach out to them financially, they will voluntarily vote.”

Corroborating his view, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki said education was the secret of most developed countries, noting that: “We need to continue to strengthen our human resources. People always say that we have population as strength in this country, but we must ensure that they are well educated and empowered.”

Speaking, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State said education would help Muslims to project themselves in good light.

“As a Muslim we are to tell our stories that we represent peace not terrorism and the best way to do this is through education. There is nothing wrong in learning in our own local languages because that will make us excel more,” he said.