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[OPINION] Islam: Beyond terrorism and Boko Haram [Monday Lines 1]

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By Lasisi Olagunju

The United Arab Emirates has just held its Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. Our president was there. A part of that event was the World Future Energy Summit which ended on Thursday last week. Saudi Arabia is holding a Smart City and Infrastructure Expo in September this year. It held one last year. When Muslim countries do things as these, they advertise Islam in the very best form. They make Islam attractive and beautiful.

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Like Saudi Arabia, we have Islam here in abundance but we lack the sanity and prosperity of Saudi Arabia. Like the Western World, we have Christianity but the technological fruit of that faith eludes us. Saudi Arabia is busy building smart cities. It is working on NEOM, a $1.5 trillion digital city that is designed to make Dubai an ancient experience. The name NEOM is a blend of the Greek ‘neo’ (new) and the ‘M’ in the Arabic ‘Mustaqbal’ (future). The anglicized NEOM means ‘New Future’. The name tells the fecundity of the minds that conceived the idea. Saudi is building another wonder called Riyadh Smart City; and a third one christened Jedda Economic City. All these are being programmed to run on the most modern of science and tech ideas. To them, book is not haram; it is tonic that gives life. While they talk of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence; we loot and burn libraries here; we break bones over who becomes an oba or an emir and who should not – in a democratic republic.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are monarchies, yet they are modern in ways that challenge and shame our democracy. The Arabs use religion to make for themselves everything that makes the future a better experience than what today offers. Here in Nigeria, we pray for miracles. Life expectancy “refers to the number of years a person can expect to live.” The Vatican City has been the Centre of Christianity since the 4th century. Life expectancy in that city in 2024 was 84.16 years; in Saudi Arabia, it was 75.83 years; in UAE, it was 78.60. There is another Arab country called Qatar; life expectancy there in 2024 was 80.88 years. Like the Vatican City, Nigeria has Christianity in great abundance, just as it has a surplus of Islam like the Arab countries; yet, the number of years a person could expect to live in Nigeria in 2024 did not exceed 62.2 years.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Bank shares and bank Tzars [Monday Lines 2]

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Our president was at the UAE event. He must have seen the Muslim Arab country using 21st century brains to power its leap into the future. The rich who rode Rolls Royce there last year still ride their wonder on wheels. There are no fears of a government policy that will reduce them to jalopy drivers this year. The state won’t also fleece the poor to feed the rich. That country and others in its league leverage the best in technology to create hubs of innovative solutions to existential issues. Saudi streets are clean; its people are happy and resourceful. Yet, it is not a democracy and has no plan to be one. The UAE has the iconic Dubai as its poster of excellence. The country does not waste its time voting the worst to rule the best. Both countries are Islamic countries, but they do not breed Almajirai, Boko Haram and other variants of extremism that make lepers of their region and religion.

We cannot become those countries until we have blind laws that recognize no class, no ethnicity. We need schools, not temples of miracles. Saudi is a praying nation like us. Unlike us, Saudi Arabia does not insult God with laid-back demands. Saudi Arabia’s top universities are world class. Check their ranking; check ours. Everything that makes a nation fail itself is here. What we have here can only breed enlightened ignorance and unremitting want.

Saudi Arabia is attracting the best brains from all over the world to its universities. And the universities are not there as mere salary-paying loss centres. They are at the forefront of the country’s agenda for its emerging quantum revolution. What do we have in Nigeria.

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MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Fulani, Hausa And Yoruba Truths [Monday Lines]

At the last convocation of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, the institution’s pro-chancellor, Professor Siyan Oyeweso, delivered a withering verdict on the state of the Nigerian ivory tower. He said “the Nigerian university system has been replaced with ‘indigenized’ and ‘villagized’ universities. The hitherto national and international character of the system has been replaced with inbreeding. The staff profiles of federal and state universities – academic and non-teaching – reveal a shocking practice of father, mother, brothers, sisters and children working in the same system. Family dynasty has replaced the merit system.” Damn!

I connect very well with what Professor Oyeweso said. As an undergraduate, we had teachers from all over the world. There were foreign students just as children of the rich and the poor shared seats in lecture rooms. My university classroom experience was a lesson in classlessness. I shared the same class with an Akinrinade in an era when General Alani Akinrinade was one of the biggest names in the country. There was a Soyinka in my class. Governor Oladayo Popoola’s law-student daughter offered some courses that I also wrote in the same class. Yet, our Tigris and Euphrates flowed their courses in amity. The class that existed was the class of learning.

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Today, when we tell our 1980s stories and the ones our fathers told us of the 1950s and 1960s, they mean very little – or naked nothing, to our children who have had zero positive contact with the Nigerian state. The mix of experience and status we enjoyed is missing today. Decay in public schools has driven the privileged abroad, or to private schools. The height of parents now determine how high the children can fly. Those stuck in public schools are daily plotting their escape. We cannot be well without casting down our castles of decay.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Tinubu, Atiku And The Lion’s Share [Monday Lines 2]

Despite their advancement in everything, the Arab world is still combing the world for more knowledge. Even our unusual country has been a destination for them. A delegation of the Association of Arab Universities was at the Arabic and Islamic Centre, Markaz, Agege, Lagos last week. Reports said they inspected the impressive digital technology and language laboratory, ICT Centre of the school. Why were they here? If you asked them, they would tell you that seeking knowledge anywhere is an obligation in their religion.

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The black man wasted all the centuries of the past. We’ve wasted a quarter of the current century. The Renaissance of the 14th century influenced the Reformation of the 16th century. Both were the shock treatment that jolted the West out of its illiteracy and general backwardness. We need local versions of those two experiences to force a change here. We do not have the time.

A tiny country called UAE built adorable Dubai from a desert fishing village. Our president was there. We wait for the fruits of that visit. Saudi Arabia is using the fruits of Islam to build smart cities. We flock there for worship, business and leisure. Countries that emerged from the rubble of imperial Rome used Christianity to build the Western economies that continue to water our world. Here, we are using religion to cheat, to kill and plunder and cause confusion. The science that made Saudi and Dubai possible is sin to some mis-taught people. Our aspiration is not to gain the success of Saudi; we cannot build Dubai; we are far from where the West is, but we love the beauty of those places. And we strip our place here bare so that we can go there. Who really are we?

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NYSC Pays Arrears After Two-month Break

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The National Youth Service Corps resumed payments for arrears on Wednesday, marking the first disbursement since the last payment on June 3, following a two-month break.

This payment relates to the new N77,000 monthly allowance recently approved by the Federal Government.

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Recall that on April 5th, the Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, assured that corps members who recently completed their service will receive the new N77,000 monthly allowance approved by the Federal Government.

Speaking during the Batch A 2025 Pre-Mobilisation Workshop in Abuja, Nafiu said, “Once funds are released to us to offset the arrears, we will pay them. Even our corps members who passed out recently will benefit. We have their bank details.”

READ ALSO:Release Corps Member’s Discharge Certificate, Falana Tells NYSC

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He emphasised the government’s commitment, adding, “Nigerians should not fret about that because the government is both responsible and responsive to their needs.”

This development was confirmed by PUNCH, by a previously serving corps member who chose to remain anonymous, who said, “After waiting for two months, I didn’t expect to see another payment alert. But honestly, it’s not just about the money; it’s about feeling like our efforts actually count.

The payment of arrears, covering the period from July 2024 to March 2025, follows widespread frustration over delayed implementation after the Federal Government approved the allowance increase as part of its commitment to easing economic hardship for Nigerian youth.

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FCTA Withdraws Park Licences, Directs Fresh Screening Of Operators

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The Federal Capital Territory Administration has withdrawn all park licences in Abuja, directing operators to resubmit their documents for a fresh screening exercise, with a possibility of reallocation.

The Director, Department of Development Control, Murktar Galadima, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Wednesday, while explaining the reasons for the demolition of Boulevard Park, Maitama, Abuja.

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The FCTA carried out the demolition of Boulevard Park in Maitama on Tuesday, over violations of park policies and distortion of the Abuja Master Plan.

Assistant Director, Department of Development Control, and Sector Head for Maitama and Wuse, Sherif Razak, explained during the exercise that the park, originally designated for recreational purposes, had been overbuilt and misused.

READ ALSO:FCTA Local Contractors Protest Non-payment Of N5.2bn Bills

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He said the park had been converted to worship centres, revival grounds, and restaurants, operating under unhygienic conditions.

Galadima explained that the decision to withdraw park licenses followed a memo jointly submitted by the Directors of Parks and Recreation and Lands to the Minister of the FCT, highlighting several inadequacies and violations associated with parks management in the FCT.

He said the new directive offers park operators the opportunity to resubmit their documents to the Department of Parks and Recreation for review.

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If they meet the terms and conditions, they can be reallocated. Owners of parks should respond to the call, submit their documents, and if they meet the requirements, they will return to their parks,” he said.

READ ALSO:FCT Police Arrest Three Wanted Kidnappers

The Director stressed that the decision was not taken to deliberately witch-hunt park operators, but is part of efforts to restore order and compliance with existing policies.

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There’s nothing like witch-hunting. All park allocations have been withdrawn following a series of violations, and the Minister is at liberty to do whatever he wants to do with land in the FCT, parks inclusive,” he stated.

On the recent demolition of Boulevard Park, Galadima clarified that operators were duly notified before enforcement, pointing out that the park had long violated its terms of allocation, operating in direct contravention of recreational policy.

READ ALSO:JUST IN: FCTA To Take Possession Of 4,794 Properties Revoked Over Non-payment Of Ground Rent

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Boulevard Park was allocated for recreational purposes, but the activities taking place there are a total violation of the park policy in terms of operation. Boulevard has violated all the terms and conditions,” he said.

He noted that monitoring park operations was the primary responsibility of the Department of Parks and Recreation, adding that parks were expected to submit concept designs for approval before operations commenced. However, lapses in monitoring had led to widespread abuse.

The FCT is a creation of law, and lawlessness will not be tolerated. The development of the city is guided by law, and every operator must comply with the terms and conditions of their allocation,” Galadima said.

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He stated that a ministerial committee had been set up to review all allocations and uses of parks, to ensure they were serving their original recreational purpose.

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Tinubu Names New VCs For Education Varsities In Zaria, Kano

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President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday named Prof. Yahaya Bunkure as the new Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Education, Zaria, Kaduna State.

The President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Wednesday titled ‘President Tinubu appoints Nakore, Kodage into governing council of Federal University of Education Kano, Bunkure, names VC Federal University of Education Zaria.’

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Bunkure is a renowned academic specialising in science education.

He is currently the Vice Chancellor of Saadatu Rimi University of Education in Kano.

READ ALSO:Ex-Tinubu Campaign Coordinator Resigns From APC

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Tinubu also appointed Abdurrazaq Nakore, an engineer, as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Yusuf Maitama Sule Federal University of Education, Kano.

He named Prof. Abdullahi Kodage as Vice Chancellor of the university.

Nakore, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, was Executive Secretary of the Rural Electricity Board in Jigawa State.

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READ ALSO:Why I’d Choose Tinubu Over Obi – Adeyanju

The Federal University of Education, Zaria, and the Yusuf Maitama Sule Federal University of Education, Kano, were among the four Colleges of Education upgraded into full-fledged universities between 2022 and 2023.

In accordance with the institution’s governing laws, the pro-chancellor will serve a term of four years, while the Vice-Chancellors will serve for five years,” the statement added.

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