Sultan urges prayers against insurgency

•Makes case for agric to boost revenue, food security
The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, has sought prayers against ongoing acts of insurgency in the country and some some Islamic nations.

Speaking yesterday in Sokoto at an event to mark the end of the Ramadan fast, the Sultan said the increasing spate of terrorism in parts of the globe was worrisome.

He noted that Islam stood for peace and preached it as well, decrying that a few bad eggs among the lot were perpetrating violence to taint the faith.The NSCIA chief, therefore, condemned as unIslamic the recent bomb blasts in Saudi Arabia, advising that Islamic countries should hold a summit to fashion out solution to the problem of insurgency.

The royal father charged Nigerians to return back to farming as a way out of the present economic challenges facing the country due to the slump in oil price at the international mark.

Abubakar stated that the country was blessed with abundant arable and as such, farming is potent to produce enough for both domestic consumption and exports.

He commended the federal and Sokoto state governments for their efforts at revamping the agricultural sector, saying such would reduce poverty and unemployment as well as boost non- oil revenue.