The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC has reportedly rejected the new date for the National Youth Service Corps 2016/17 Batch A (Stream II) orientation course which was slated for June 13, due to the ongoing Ramadan season.
This was revealed in a statement issued by MURIC's director, Ishaq Akintola and made available to PremiumTimes.
The group said the date coincided with Muslim corps members’ Ramadan fasting.
“ It is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional for NYSC to hold camp at a time when its Muslim members will be deprived of their freedom of worship and the liberty to practice their creed without fear.
“This planned camp is exclusive, discriminatory and parochial ,” the statement said.
The new date was fixed after several postponements and cancellations. The NYSC, in a statement, said the orientation course had to be postponed due to financial reason.
A date was finally fixed after President Muhammadu Buhari approved and released funds for the scheme.
The NYSC orientation programme would run from June 13 to June 29 nationwide.
MURIC noted that any Nigerian
institution dealing with schedules and programmes is expected to consider the dates and periods of important festivals, rituals and religious practices.
The Muslim group also mentioned that meals will also be a challenge as adequate sahuur (early morning meal taken approximately between 4 am and 5.15 am) cannot be guaranteed in the NYSC camp.
Neither can the futuur (meal taken at sunset to break fast ) be timely as camp schedules are bound to ignore and subsume this very important period.
Akintola, in his statement pointed out that fasting is compulsory for every Muslim adult, adding that any obstacle put in the way of Muslims to make it impossible for them to fast is an encroachment on their fundamental human right and a flagrant violation of Nigerian Constitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment