By Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) – The Kaduna state government has revealed that its introduction of state boarding schools was to encourage religious tolerance and promote peaceful coexistence among the younger generation, saying, their interactions at a tender level would help them to appreciate one another as they grow up.
Director General of the Kaduna state interfaith Namadi Musa, made this known during a two day train the trainer capacity building workshop on ‘One Family under God Campaign’ program organized by the Global Peace Foundation Nigeria (GPFN) in Kaduna, North-west Nigeria.
According to him, the Kaduna state government in its love for strengthening religious tolerance also created the Bureau interfaith which is the first in Nigeria for Christian and Muslim affairs under one leadership. He explained that, “it essence was to work as one and put those differences aside because we are all one family under God.”
“We of the fifties have seen that probably one of the problems we are having is the de-boarding of our schools which our children do not interact at their tender level. So the governor in his wisdom tries to create boarding schools which would take a child from Zongon Kataf to Zaria and vice versa.
“What the government is trying to do is to have a school that each local government is represented; For instance, there will be a school in Zaria that will constitute students from the 23 Local Government Areas and also like that in Kafanchan. We believed that when children are brought up together within an environment, as they grow up, those differences will give way because they have grown up together, slept in the same room, ate in the same dining hall, and appeared in the same hall to take their bathe. That would promote the spirit of togetherness,” he explained.
While urging the Foundation to partner with government in attaining peace in the entire state, he tasked the participants to be ambassador of peace.
Country Director of GPFN John Okoh, in a remark called on Nigerians to see themselves as brothers and a family created by one God, saying, “it is wise for us to live together as brothers or perish as fools”.
He also urged participants to work in their various communities to achieve what the organization is pursuing. “It is our hope that after this training, we will begin to see positive change in your communities. GPFN does not bring solution in our communities but work to facilitate the working relation among people because we are always divided along the line of religion, polities; so we hope that the message of ‘One family under God,’ as we live with it will bring us a lot of change.”
Earlier in his opening remarks, Northern Co-coordinator of GPFN John Joseph Hayab, noted that the essence of the workshop was to train the trainers on peace building where they are expected to do a step-down in their communities afterward.
He said, “Kaduna is the pilot state and this is the second statewide capacity building program. The first was conducted for people drawn from communities in Jaba, Zongo Kataf, Chikun, Igabi, Soba and Kaubau LGAs. This time around we have scale up the program and participants are from Ikara, Birnin Gwari, Kagarko, Kachia, Malali, and Markarfi.
Similarly, GPFN Northern Co-cordinator, Haliru Maraya while making a remark commended the Kaduna state government for reenactment of boarding schools which he said will further enhance unity among citizens.
