As the 2020 Ramadan fast comes to an end with the celebration of Eid el fitr by Muslim ummah across the globe, the founder/Chief Executive of EduShine Educational Support Foundation, Dr Safiya Stephanie Musa has felicitated with the Muslims.
She enjoined them to offer special prayers against the ravaging coronavirus pandemic.
In her Eid el fitr special message released in Abuja over the weekend, the educational enthusiast, while congratulating Muslims for successfully completing the one month spiritual exercise expressed gratitude to the Almighty Allah for the good health and opportunity provided to all to participate in the spiritually purifying exercise.
She called for sustained devotion and spirit of good neighbourliness beyond the Sallah celebration.
“It had been a full month of denial, spiritual purification and devotion to the Almighty Allah for which every believer must remain grateful for the opportunity. But let the spirits of the holy month go beyond the merriment to serve its lessons of love, caring and devotion to the service of only one true God,” she stated.
Dr Safiya was particularly happy that despite the emotional attachment that went with the temporal closure of the mosques and other worship centres due to the fear of spread of the coronavirus disease, Muslims remained orderly by conducting themselves well through restrictions in line with the social distancing rules. This she said, was very exemplary of them and expresses optimism that solutions to the dreaded virus would soon be found to save humanity from the trauma being experienced globally.
She, however, cautioned against using the period of Sallah celebration to disobey the extant rules on social distancing as provided by the Presidential Task Force against COVID-19, noting that such acts could compromise the gains already made.
The women advocate particularly congratulated the womenfolk for holding the home front tightly during the holy month by waking up on time to prepare the Sahur and Iftar meals for the nourishment of the entire family, thus making the spiritual exercise bearable.
“This caring and motherly role of the women during the holy month must be appreciated by all,” she noted.
On the Ramadan feeding embarked upon by her foundation, Dr Safiya used the opportunity to appreciate all those that participated actively in the arrangement and those that contributed in various ways towards its success in several designated centres across some states of the federation.
She reiterated her willingness to continue to work for such reliefs in the future, stressing that it’s part of the humanitarian gestures of her foundation in the service to the people.
Speaking on the closure of the schools as part of the COVID-19 lockdown, the education enthusiast appealed for more patience from parents and students, saying the policy to close the schools became necessary in view of the need to prevent person to person transmission of the disease which school environment could provide fertile ground.
She was however optimistic that as soon as such transmission could be ruled out, government will not hesitate to take necessary measures to restore normalcy in the academic activities.
Dr Safiya further assures that her educational foundation (EduShine) will continue to be at the vanguard of campaign for educational opportunity for all youths including those disadvantaged ones in the society and the girl child in particular.
“We would continue to improve on the initiative for educational opportunity for all the Nigerian youths including the indigent ones who would have ordinarily been denied of the opportunity. “That’s why we are advancing the frontier of our collaboration by exploring partnership initiatives with relevant stakeholders,” she added.
While wishing the Muslim Ummah peaceful Sallah celebration, Dr Safiya enjoined all to continue to show love and spirit of peaceful coexistence beyond the merriment, saying these are the defining lessons which the Ramadan fast has taught the Muslims. She wished all Nigerians a happy and peaceful Sallah celebration and good health in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
