Sanusi Clears Himself on Islam and Education

Emir of Kano: Muhammad Sanusi II

In the last couple of weeks, the Emir of Kano Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II has been talking tough on the need for Nigerian Muslims especially in the northern part of the country to pay more attention to formal education than erecting Islamic symbols. On 19 January, the 56 year old while speaking in the opening ceremony of the Third International Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance in Kano was quoted to have said, “If you want to help the poor, establish schools for them, or provide health institutions or empowerment in terms of providing job opportunities. But don’t come to me to say you want to build Mosque because we have them everywhere. So, my appeal is that if you really want to help Kano, don’t come to me with a request to build a N300million mosque because I have enough mosques everywhere. And if I don’t have a mosque, I’ll build it myself. If you really want to help, go and educate a girl child in the village.” As reported by news outfits on 7 February, Sanusi, while speaking at an Educational Week programme was quoted to have said, “I was in Morocco sometimes ago and I asked to see their universities. They took me to mosques where I saw each serving as classrooms teaching Computer Science and other subjects.” However, some people took his comments to mean Masajids (mosques) should be converted to schools which would mean that Sanusi preferred material to spiritual. In the wake of the controversy, Sanusi in a special interview with the LEADERSHIP newspaper said that was never what he meant. He said he was only trying to drive home the point that Masajids should have a versatile role in the community; they shouldn’t be restricted to only five daily prayers. The former Central Bank Governor buttressed, “It should be known, for clarity, that the use of mosques as venues of instruction is nothing new, I didn’t say that schools should substitute or cancel mosques.” Muhammad Sanusi II was made the Emir of Kano on 8 June 2014 after the demise of his grand Uncle-Dr Ado Bayero on 6 June 2014.