I am tired of building mosques daily, every girl child should be educated - Emir Sanusi

The traditional ruler of Kano, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II of Kano state has brought back some memories about some incidents those days as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the criticism he suffered from some Nigerians for introducing an Islamic bank to the country.

The Jaiz Bank was announced to Nigeria under Sanusi administration as Governor of CBN and at that period, some Nigerians insisted that it was a plan to islamise the country.

The Emir of Kano also stated he was not interested in building mosques and admonished other Muslims to pay more attention on educating children in the north rather than building worship centres.

He recalled that the management of Jaiz Bank came and told him that they had only N1 billion to invest while the rule was that to open a bank, you must have a capital of N5 billion.

He said he had to contact one of the Africa wealthiest men who provided the rest, which was N4 billion.

To those with the belief that was a strategy to islamise the country, he said that the present CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, is now at the leader of the bank’s management.

In a note he posted on his social media page, the emir wrote: “When Jaiz bank came up with the idea of getting a license for the operation of the bank, they proposed the funding of the bank’s capital with interest and I said no, you can’t fund a non-interest bank with interest.

"The required amount to be issued license was N5 billion at that time and they had only N1 billion.

“I took my phone and called one of the richest men in Africa who is a Nigerian and a Muslim. I told him that N5 billion is needed for an Islamic bank to start operation and the founders have N1 billion, and he instantly agreed and issued a cheque of 4 billion. That is how the license was issued.

“Some Nigerians thought the introduction of Islamic banking in the country was a move to Islamize Nigeria. No at all, everything that is normal in the world is not normal in Nigeria. There is Islamic banking in London, India and in South Africa but the citizens there never thought it as a way of Islamizing their countries but it became an issue in Nigeria.

“Today, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is the chairman of the governing board and head of the general assembly of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM).

“Is that an agenda of Islamizing Nigeria? No, It was done for the promotion and guidance in financial inclusion. That is how we are.”

Talking about the tradition of early marriage and the problem connected with the girl child in the northern part of the country, the Emir Sanusi urged the stakeholders to invest more on educating a girl child than building mosques.

He said: “75% of 18-15 married women in the country today are not educated, that is why the society is producing illiterate mothers and children. I am tired of building mosques daily.

“We keep building mosque while our children are not educated, our foundations and NGO’s should give much focus and priority to girl child education, the mosques are OK enough.

“I am currently drafting a bill that will be sent to the state Assembly for legislation against early marriage.

“We need to ban it, all this issues of maternal health and Almajiri are courtesy of early marriage as a result of lack of education for our girl children, this is bringing us back.”