The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar on Saturday blamed the failure of leadership for the increasing moral decadence among youths in the country.
Abubakar said this in Kaduna in a message to the opening of the 8th Ramadan Lecture, organised by the NTA, FRCN and VON, with the theme “Moral Upbringing in Islam”.
He noted that the complete break down of family and leadership values have left the youths with no role models to emulate, either at home or at the national level.
Represented by the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril, the Sultan also noted that the marriage institution had completely collapsed as parents continue to produce children they could not fend for or even give advice to.
“Things are extremely bad and in shambles, parents have failed, the leaders whether political, religious or in the academics are not showing good examples,” he said.
The situation, according to him, has led to the evolution of youths who are showing great disrespect for their parents, political and religious leaders as well as the society at large.
Abubakar recalled the mayhem unleashed by such youths after the 2011 general elections, saying that most of those who participated in the violence were drug addicts.
“It is not too late to change”, he said, and urged parents to take the moral upbringing of their children more seriously.
The Sultan said parents must learn to make friends with their children, interact with them, caution and advise them at every stage of their lives.
He called for sanctions against parents who neglected their families, and for collective efforts to stem the high rate of drug abuse among the youth.
Abubakar particularly called for the streamlining of the use of motorcycles for commercial purposes, saying most of the operators have turned into drug addicts “with no respect for their parents, elders or anybody”.
“The `Achaba’ business has robbed us of a whole generation of youths, who have been left on the street without schooling or moral guidance.”
The Sultan reminded parents, teachers, leaders and all those vested with responsibility of guiding the youth, that they would be made to account for their inaction before Allah.
“All of us are shepherds and we shall be answerable before Allah on the various roles we played in pushing our children to become demons and irresponsible.”
Earlier, the Executive Director, FRCN Kaduna, Malam Ladan Salihu, had in an address of welcome, said that the choice of the theme for the lecture was draw the attention of Nigerians on the dangers of increasing immorality among the youths.
“This should elicit concern, as Nigeria is gradually moving into the future with greater number of its youths turning into drugs addicts and becoming morally bankrupt.”
