Islamic Scholars in the country have been urged to use their God given intellect and wisdom in their respective places of worship to preach against violent extremism in the society.
The appealed was made by executive director North East Youth Initiative For Development (NEYIF) , Dr Dauda Muhammed Gombe, while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after closing ceremony of a 3-day capacity building workshops on Preventive and Countering Violence Extremisms organized for religious and community leaders in Sokoto state.
The workshop which was organized by NEYIF in collaboration with the Sokoto state ministry for Religious Affairs brought 40 participants from the 4 local government areas of Sokoto state.
Dr. Dauda said that the scholars have a great role to play in the current campaign against violence extremism in view of their enormous influences in the society.
He said their silence was what led Northern Nigeria to where it is today.
Giving the account of the 3 year-old North East Youth Initiative, Dr Dauda said as part of its core objective, the NEYF had trained over 21,000 Nigerians both male and females on different skills acquisitions programs
According to him, the success recorded by NEYIF on violence prevention was the rational behind its selection as the first national organization to receive funding from GCERF to implement similar campaign in Sokoto state with an initial target of 19, 423 direct beneficiaries and more than 116,538 indirect beneficiaries
He said that the project has reached 24 385 direct beneficiaries comprising 17,244 males and 7,141 females within the implementation period
Dr. Dauda gave breakdown of the beneficiaries which he said include 1,200 security personnel trained on Preventive Violence Extremism, 144 Youth Social Media influencers were also trained on Media Literacy
Othets were , 150 journalists trained on MDAs/ responsible reportage, 240 stakeholders on Alternative Dispute and Complicit Resolution among others
Declaring the workshop closed, the Sokoto state Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Dr Sani Jabir Maihulla commended the NEYIF for choosing Sokoto after North East to conduct their activities.