The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Secretary General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede has challenged Muslim youths to take up the responsibility to reform the society as the contemporary world is immersed in corruption, mischief, and disorderliness.
Oloyede charged the youths while delivering a paper at the Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) B- zone, themed ‘How could this be?’.
He said it is imperative to examine the socio-political Balance Sheet of Nigeria with a view to determining what role is expected of Muslims in the continual reconstruction of society.
“ Today, the nation is beset with a number of challenges which are directly traceable to poor social engineering as a result of breakdown of family values; coercive secularization and its corrosive effects on music and entertainment industry; drug addiction, immorality, poor education culture, social vices and insecurity.”
Oloyede mentioned that one of the major areas of deficits today is poor attitude to education, which has resulted in low technical skills among youths.
“It is quite unimaginable that almost 70 years after the establishment of the MSSN, we are still contending with fewer number of Muslim teachers in both primary and secondary schools even in Muslim majority states of Oyo, Ogun and Lagos.
Is it a case of lack of manpower or structural denial of access to employment in teaching service or both? The situation in our tertiary institutions in the Southern part of the country is even worse.”
He noted that there has not been any commensurate improvement in the number of Muslim academics in Universities and other tertiary institutions despite the fact that year in year out, a good number of best graduates were produced,” he said.
“Experience has shown that one of the main objectives of the MSSN to raise critical manpower through quality education of members is not meaningfully on track.
He added that the epidemic rise in cases of examination malpractice has greatly diminished capacity to optimise opportunities offered by an increased number of students in the country.
“The Muslim Ummah is especially disadvantaged by other self inflicted woes, in addition to institutionalised and structural discrimination which they are routinely subjected to since the colonial era.”
He said the organisation of schools for Islamic education has remained largely in private hands with its attendant incoherence and chaos.
“The curricula in the traditional islammiyyah schools are, in some parts, outdated and unsuitable. The products of these schools are generally not recognised by the system and are not employable. Most of them resort to some unwholesome and abhorrent social practices for lack of opportunities for decent and sustainable economic lifestyle. Rather than being ambassadors of Islam, they become a burden to the Deen.
“Traditional Muslim Scholars are presently embroiled in undue rivalry couched in ideological debates. They have distracted the Ummah from the pursuit of noble and lofty goals. We really have to address the embarrassing verbal exchanges between some Muslim scholars and preachers,” he said.
