The need for government to fashion out constitutional roles for traditional rulers to enable them bail the country out of incessant security problems has been stressed.
Speakers at a colloquium organised to mark the 27th year on the throne by the Emir of Ilorin, Alh Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari stated this on Thursday saying it will go along way in addressing challenges bedeviling the country.
At the event organised by the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in collaboration with the Ilorin Emirate Council, the speakers including academia, jurists and technocrats, also said the roles of the monarch in maintaining security in their domains should be further enhanced.
Speakers at the event included; Ibrahim Jawondo, Yusuf Sagaya, a retired security chief, Aliyu Otta-Othman, Justice Salihu Mohammed and Ahmed Abdullateef, Kwara NUJ chairman.
The Emir was represented at the event by the most senior high chief in Ilorin Emirate, the Balogun Gambari of Ilorin, Alh Aliyu Adebayo.
The guest lecturer, Ibrahim Jawondo, a professor of History, University of Ilorin said that traditional rulers should be meaningfully involved in the act of governance.
“Experiences have shown that involvement of traditional rulers in act of governance will go a long way in solving some teething problems in Nigeria. Thus, it will be better if constitutional roles are fashioned out for traditional rulers rather than the fire-fighting and adhoc engagements given to them,” Jawondo said.
The university don noted that honorary titleholders should seek deeper meaning of the responsibilities of the titles conferred on them and act most appropriately, adding that the step would help the traditional rulers the more in administrating their domains.
“The hereditary rulers need to do more in their supervisory roles at their territories to curb social vices which continue to be on the increase on daily basis. Greed resulting into injustice should be shunned to regain their lost glories. Kudus to the Emir who ruled that they must stay at their various posts”, he said.
The state chairman of NUJ, Abdullateef Ahmed, said that people could not but celebrate the emir of Ilorin because of the importance an average Ilorin indigenes attach to his historical turbaning event also admirably referred to as 11/11.
The NUJ chairman added that the emirate in the past 27 years had undergone different phases of development in physical and nonphysical.
However, he advised indigenes of the state capital to collectively proffer solution the teething problem of insecurity, unemployment, rising cost of living and the usual threat to peaceful coexistence, “as we approach the 2023 general elections.”
The chairman of the occasion and Zannan of Ilorin,Yusuf Sagaya who was represented by Ibrahim Salman, noted that Ilorin Emirate has witnessed peace and unprecedented growth in the past 27 years.
In his remarks, the chairman of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Aliyu Otta- Othman described the Emir as a kindhearted leader who always feels and shares in the pains of his subjects.
A former Grand Khadi of the state, Justice Salihu Mohammed, corroborated Otta-Othman, acknowledging the positive role the Emir played in his career as a judicial officer.
Sikirat Shehu
