The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Abubakar III, has called on government to tinker with the way it promotes family planning so as to make the programme attractive to Muslims.
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The Spiritual Leader of Muslims in Nigeria, gave this advice at the 5th Annual Family Planning Consultative Stakeholders’ Meeting, themed: ‘Investing in Family Planning: Key to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria.’
The Sultan, who was represented by the Emir of Shonga, Dr. Haliru Yahaya, at the event held on Monday in Abuja, said Islam was not averse to child spacing.
Abubakar, however, urged government at all levels to adopt new strategies in its promotion of family planning, saying the method in operation discouraged Muslims, particularly, those from northern Nigeria from embracing it.
According to him, “I think everything has to come down to communication. For example, when the government set up a new policy, there was an issue on population control – five children per family. That set the whole thing backwards. People resisted but the whole essence of it was good.
“If you use the premise of economy, they will tell you that only God gives wealth. But they will succumb to superior argument when you say, ‘doesn’t Islam say be nice to your wives?’ Doesn’t Islam talk about a healthy population? So, why do you have to have 10 children? And the person may agree to have two.”
