The Sultan of Sokoto and the President-General, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has declared that children who were orphaned as a result of insurgency would be left in his care and are his responsibilty.
The Sultan made the declaration on Saturday, during the Eid-el-fitr lunch which was organised for the students of UK Jarma Academy in Sokoto State.
The school founded by a Sokoto-based Philanthropist, Alhaji Umarun Kwabo, holds an estimated total of 171 Orphans from Borno, Yobe and Sokoto states. These include 117 orphans from Borno, 21 from Yobe and 33 from Sokoto who are being sponsored by the Philanthropist to acquire their education to tertiary institution level.
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According to the Sultan, the children are no longer orphans because he is their father.
“We will continue to ensure that this children are living comfortably, we are their parents and they are our children,” he said.
Abubakar also called on scholars to sustain more enlightenment on the need for the society to support orphans.
“The gesture, if properly sustained by our society, will drastically reduce the ugly situation of rampant begging across our domain,” he said.
The Sultan appreciated the sponsor of the children, Sokoto State Government and others, to continue to support the initiative. He appealed for a sustainable prayer by Nigerians for peace, unity and progress in the country.
Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, who was represented by his Deputy, Alhaji Munir Dan’iya, reassured of his administration’s commitment in supporting orphans.
He thanked Kwabo for sustaining the initiative and appealed to other personalities to emulate the gesture, considering its abundant reward from the Almighty Allah.
Africa Daily News, New York
