The Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II, has urged wealthy individuals from the north to stop building mosques but support the education of girl-child.
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Sanusi made this call on Thursday in his keynote address at the 3rd international conference on Islamic Banking and Finance in Kano.
Lamenting that many young girls in the north have been left out of school, the emir frowned at massive mosque building spree, urging wealthy individuals to invest in girl-child education.
“I’m just tired of people coming to me to say I want to build a new mosque. We keep building mosques and our daughters are illiterates.
“So, my appeal is that if you really want to help Kano, don’t come to me with a request to build a N300m mosque because I have enough mosques everywhere. If you really want to help, go and educate a girl child in the village,” he said.
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The former Central Bank governor stated that Nigeria has the highest unbanked African population with the North having the highest rates.
He explained that Muslims are averse to Western banking owing to non-compatibility of the services to the tenets of Islam, adding that the only way to increase financial inclusion in the north is through Islamic banking.
His word, “This shows that self-exclusion due to religious considerations are to some extent being mitigated by the introduction of Islamic financial services.”
