Sultan: We can use education to deal with religious extremism

Muhammadu Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, says education can be used to address the problem of religious extremism.

Abubakar said this on Wednesday in Sokoto at the second education summit organised by the Nigerian Army Education Corps.

The sultan said many people use religion for selfish reasons because they have not received proper teachings on what Christianity or Islam entails.

“So many people turn religion upside down to suit them because they have not been properly guided on what should be the teachings, especially of the two major religions,” the monarch said.

“This has been a serious challenge to us. So education is one area where we can deal properly with the challenge of extremism.”

He said those fuelling insecurity in the country have “turned the true knowledge upside down and interpreted it the best way they understood”.

“The more we come together and talk, the more we proffer possible solutions to various prevailing issues that we are facing as a country,” Abubakar said.

“Hence the need of having to properly educate people in the society.”

On his part, Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto governor, said the challenges the state is witnessing is impacting negatively on the education sector, hence the need for the summit.