The Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation has partnered with the Peace Revival and Reconciliation Foundation of Nigeria, PRRFN, to stamp out rape and ethno-religious intolerance in the Northern part of the country.
The Managing Director of the foundation, Abubakar Gambo-Umar, made the disclosure while receiving the founder of the peace foundation, Pst. Yohanna Buru and his entourage who were on a courtesy call recently.
A statement on Thursday, Mr Gambo-Umar said peace is a collective responsibility which must be supported by all, nothing that NGOs have a major role to play in promoting peaceful co-existence and tolerance in the society.
He extolled the virtues of the late premier of northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, for uniting the people of the region irrespective of their religious and ethnic differences.
According to him, the foundation has put machinery in place towards training more women and youth on entrepreneurship to reduce unemployment.
He note that insecurity had caused a serious setback to the entire Northern region, stressing the need for every stakeholder to support State and Federal Governments toward making a better region.
While the foundation kicked against the activities of rapists in the society, the managing-director called on the authorities to consider a severe punishment for rapists, to serve as a lesson to others.
He said: “The Northern part of the country had many problems which include Almajiranci, Boko Haram, insecurity, and lack of quality education.”
Earlier in his remarks, Mr Buru said the visit was aimed at fraternizing with the organization and seek collective ways of promoting peace in the region.
He assured to his continued partnership with the foundation for the uplifting of the region and the nation as a whole.
“Our foundation has supported a substantial number of widows and youths on skills acquisition activities to help them cater to themselves.
“For the past 10 years, we have been visiting top Islamic scholars in the region to strengthen inter-religious tolerance and to promote peaceful co-existence among different faith-based organizations in the entire region.
“This organization has contributed a lot in terms of tackling ethnoreligious and political crisis in Kaduna and other neighbouring states,” he stated.
Mr Buru, therefore, called on Muslims and Christians to forgive each other in all aspects, urging them to continue praying for peace and unity of the country.
