Niger State Governor, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has urged Nigerians not to allow religious differences to serve as a barrier among them but to come together and work for national development.
This is just as the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, has also urged all religious groups to mobilise their members to be security conscious and work for the peace of the nation.
Governor Aliyu, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, at the 16th annual National Qur’anic Recitation competition organised by Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS), said that peace, progress and prosperity should be the focus of all Nigerians.
He said it was towards this direction that the state government has to encourage peaceful co-existence between the two religions in the state.
“We are equally delighted to have been able to create an enabling environment for people to practise their religion without let or hindrance in Niger State with our belief that government is for all citizens – Muslims, Christian and even non-believers,” he said.
The Etsu Nupe, who was the chairman of the occasion, also urged religious organisations to work for peace as the panacea for national development and a way to overcome the present security challenges facing the country.
Meanwhile, the national chairman of the Islamic group, Sheikh Bala Lau, has said the organisation will soon set up a television station to mobilise youths for virtuous religious practice with the maintain contents to be the recitation of Qur’an and the hadiths.