The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar says there is hunger
in the land because people are lazy.
"The chairman, Shura committee talk about hunger in the
land but let me make it clear that we are hungry because we are lazy," he
stated.
He was responding to the remarks of the chairman of the
Shura committee of the National Islamic Centre, Ahmad Bello who said that there
is extreme hunger in the land at the 22rd annual Ummah Convention held in
Sokoto.
The Sultan noted that Nigeria was endowed with fertile land
and that if properly harnessed could lead the country to greatness but for the
laziness of the people.
He recalled that agriculture had been the pride of the north
in the past which need to be restored.
The monarch urged Nigerians, particularly northerners to
take advantage of the agricultural programmes initiated by their state and
federal governments for development of the region and the country in general.
He also harped on the unity of the Ummah and the need for
them to live peacefully with other religious faithful.
Sultan urged the organizers to ensure that their resolutions
and recommendations reach those people in government for onward implementation.
However, Bello advised the federal government to address the
cognate issue of hunger in the country.
"Let us be very frank and blunt about this- there is
hunger, extreme hunger in the land.There is no more vociferous and forceful
evidence on this than the millions of our hapless children, all victims of
cruel parental neglect, who go about begging for food from households, on
streets, or just eating out of dustbin, " he stated.
The committee chairman added:"Our political and
spiritual leaders must do something about this, and urgently too, as it would
be a crime, a sin and a folly not to do so."
He congratulated the federal government for defeating the
Boko Haram threat to security and advised it to investigate and gather
intelligence on some pertinent questions about this "glaringly licentious
and clearly unislamic group.”
Delivering a lecture on "Agriculture:Panacea for
Nigeria's Economic Recession", the Vice Chancellor, Al-Qalam University,
Katsina Professor Shehu Ado stressed the need for Nigeria to take agriculture
to the centrepiece of industrialization
and economic take off.
He said by focusing on an action-oriented process, Nigeria
could accelerate agric-led development that leads to self-reliant productive
economies capable of eradicating hunger and poverty.
By Abubakar Auwal
