By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Chairman of the Oyo State Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim Wing) Sheikh Hashim Atere last Saturday, charged Nigerians to embrace agriculture and patronise locally made products.
Sheikh Atere gave the charge at the 6th annual Shina Peller sponsored Ramadan lecture of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Oyo State Council, held at the NUJ Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan
The Chairman Oyo State Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim Wing) attributed the current economic hardship in the country to neglect of agriculture and locally made products among the citizens.
According to him, many Nigerians have neglected agriculture which is causing food scarcity in the country with most Nigerians patronising foreign goods at the expense of locally made products thereby causing them more money.
” If we are talking about hardship, it was not caused by the government. Nobody want to patronise locally made products. We have neglected agricultural sector. We do not have farmers again especially here in the South West. We have used all the lands to build estates”, he said.
Sheikh Atere added, ” We want to eat eggs but we don’t rear hens. The hardship was caused by neglect of agriculture. We are the ones causing the hardship. Let us eat locally made foods and stop depending on foreign goods” .
On the topic, “Ramadan: Spirits of sharing and caring as panacea for hardship”, he stressed that one of the solutions to reduce the hardship is for the citizens to have a change of mindset by embracing agriculture and patronise locally made products.
Speaking further, Sheikh Atere said ” Payment of Zakat is one of the pillars of Islam. We don’t do it the way it supposed to be. That is why we have many poor people”, adding, ” The rich should ensure payment of Zakat. It is just one percent out of 40 per cent of your money. We have neglected all these things and that is why we have hardship in the last”.
“The rich should make people happy, they should assist the poor and politicians should not wait for 2027 elections before they assist the people”.
Ayedero of Yorubaland, Hon Shina Peller who sponsored the lecture
appealed to journalists in the country to always discharge their duties in accordance to the rules of their profession.
“We started this Ramadan lecture seven years ago. This is the sixth edition because we do not have opportunity to do it in 2020 during COVID-19”, he said.
Hon Peller added, “Journalists are very powerful people. They are very important in any government and no government can play with them. I was them to discharge their duties as expected”.
The lecture was attended by a former Deputy of the state, Barrister Azeem Gbolarumi, Hon. Sina Oyedeji, Hon. Adebayo Adepoju, Dr. Bayo Busari, and the Oyo state NUJ Chairman, Alhaji Ademola Babalola among other dignitaries.
