Malam Yakubu Shehu in the middle.
By Dada Ahmed in lokoja.
A Lokoja-based muslim cleric, Malam Yakubu Shehu, has urged parents in Nigeria to inculcate good morals in their children as part of their efforts to train the children to be God-fearing and responsible leaders of tomorrow.
He gave the advice on Wednesday at Felele,a suburb of Lokoja, in his sermon marking the naming ceremony of Sergeant and Mrs AbdulRahman.
The religious leader, who pronounced the name of the girl as Hameedah Onyinoyi,, stressed the need for parents to also train their children in a Godly manner for such children to abstain from vices compounding societal ills today in Nigeria.
According to him,the first step by parents, especially in Islamic way, is to ensure that the children imbibe the culture of praying and reading the Holy Quran on regular basis and allow the tradition of Prophet Mohammed (PBOH) to reflect in their conduct in the society.
“Once the children pray regularly, they will behave in tune with Islamic way towards good moral conduct and by this way, they will shun crime among others.
Malam Shehu also called on the parents to be exemplary in conduct to their children to copy by observing their 5-day prayers as well as establish good relationship with neighbours, thereby contributing to peace and progress of the society.
“Relate with your children well,see and treat them not just as your biological children but friends you can share ideas and thoughts with and nurtured towards being responsible citizen,” he further urged.
He said though Islam allows parents to flog their children who had attained seven years but refuse to observe the 5 daily Islamic prayers, the flogging should not be such that would inflict physical injury on them and harden their negative behaviour.
“If you see the children doing wrong things, called them to order by explaining why they should stop such negative behaviour in a manner that will make see the reason why they should retrace their step and stop it.
“Don’t be too harsh on your children in the process of correcting them, because that can aggravate their unacceptable conduct.
Moderation, he added, should be the way to correct erring children in order to achieve the dream of checkmating them indulge in negative tendencies with great consequences for the society.
He prayed for long life and prosperity of the children and her parents as well as the general peace of Nigeria.
