Nigeria women on Tuesday sought God’s intervention in the resolution of the conflict between the Israelis and the Hamas in Palestine.
The women, under the aegis of an International Islamic Organisation: ‘The Criterion’, said the ongoing war in Gaza required God’s intervention for a resolution, noting that it’s an age-long problem.
The international Amirah of The Criterion, Alhaja Medinat Akanni, made the position of the women known while addressing newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on the forthcoming international conference of the association billed to hold in Ilorin.
She equally made case for the training and proper upbringing of the boy-child, noting that much attention is being paid to the training of the girl-child while the boy-child is being neglected.
She said: “Charity begins at home, so if we are desirous of peace in the society, it must start from home. We must ensure that there is peace at every home and the only way to achieve this is to properly bring up our male and female children who will later become husbands and wives. If there is peace in their marriages and various homes, there will be peace in the society.”
Akanni said the theme for this year’s conference is “Peace Building: The Role of Muslim Women in Our Society.”
The Criterion Amirah added: “Our carefully chosen Theme is very apt to the present economic and political situation facing not only Nigeria but the world at large.
“Most nations are not at peace as there is one disturbances or the other and where there is no peaceful co-existence there can never be progress. The World has not known peace for quite some time now. A lot of things have been disrupted from education to economy, health, social life just to mention a few.
“One of the aims and objectives of the Criterion is to encourage, promote and foster the spirit of Islamic sisterhood by ensuring we live in peace at all times and also ensuring that anything that will make life meaningful is put in place.”
Akanni said ‘The Criterion’ was established about 40 years ago as a faith-based non-governmental organisation committed to all round societal development.
“We are a Muslim Organisation passionate about the welfare of women and children. Our core values are integrity, empathy and competence. We focus majorly on education, reproductive health and economic empowerment.
” Our aims and objectives among others are, to be a vanguard of Islamic propagation and to strengthen Islamic faith in Nigeria and the whole world. We encourage all round education both in the mundane and religious matters, we advocate improved budgetary allocation for education by government at all levels.
“We are a strong advocate towards government giving priority to maternal and child health. We mobilize women on the need to enable healthy living within the family and encourage them to partake in decision making process in their immediate community.”