An Islamic cleric, Mallam AbdulaAfeez Giwa has advised Nigerians to embark on programmes that would shape the younger generation into better individuals in the society.
Giwa gave the advice in Abuja during a Qur’anic recitation competition organised for orphans from different orphanage homes in the Federal Capital Territory FCT.
He stated that the event aimed to inculcate moral values and instill confidence in the participants, saying that the competition provided a unique opportunity to refine their recitation skills and deepen their understanding of Qur’anic science, both theoretically and practically.
“Khadijat qua’ran award is an award intended in testing the memorisation skill of children, but this time around what makes this special is that we are focusing on the orphans.
“These categories are the less spoken about people in the society, we are giving them a voice and recognition of what their powess lies on.
“Today, the orphans from different homes are competing in three categories to assess their level of memorisation of the qua’ran,” he said.
Giwa also said that life without God was a baseless life, while explaining that the programme was put in place to infuse in the orphans natural love of Allah to guide their ways.
According to him, this help the children become a filter in which they speak, it becomes what makes up their thinking and eventually what makes up their actions.
“So we are going to be witnessing children that will be unleashed to the world who are spiritually balanced, academically capable and morally sound,” he added.
Earlier, the convener of the event, Mrs Khadijat Fashina, said the programme was designed to ensure the inclusiveness of orphans in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
“There is a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of the United Nations that talks about equal opportunities. Now orphans are one of the people in the society that are most ostracized.
“Nobody actually ever thinks of including them into things or given them equal opportunities. So this is the way of including them into the full part of the society so that they can grow into the productive citizens of Nigeria,” she said.
Five orphanage homes participated in the competition, with cash gifts and trophies awarded to the winners of the first, second, and third positions.
