By Kunle Akogun

The emergence of the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, as the new Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) did not come as a surprise to mane keen watchers of the erudite scholar and versatile administrator vis-à-vis his activities as a cosmopolitan and pan-Nigerian Muslim activist. His antecedents speak volumes of his undisputable suitability for the eminent position. Indeed, his appointment on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 during the National Executive Council meeting of the NSCIA in Kaduna is akin to putting a round peg in a round hole.

The former President of the Association of African Universities (AAU) is very familiar with the issues that define the raison d’être of the foremost Islamic organization, having been involved, at a very tender age, in the mobilization and conscientization of Muslim youths during his undergraduate days when he was the National President of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN). Apart from this, Prof. Oloyede has been a member of the National Executive Council of the NSCIA since 2002 when he became its Assistant Secretary-General.

Above all, his position as Co-Secretary/National Coordinator of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) has put him in an undisputable vantage position as the right person to champion and cement the much-needed peaceful co-existence among practitioners of the two major religions in the country. No doubt, Prof. Oloyede is a respected voice in the country today and very well admired by all strata of the Nigerian and even international community. The NSCIA couldn’t have made a better choice.

However, as well suited as he is for the position, Prof. Oloyede should realize that he has a big task ahead of him, especially as he is taking over the seat from a veteran and pre-eminent Muslim leaders, the late Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite, who tried his best to nurture the Islamic body and made it an organization to reckon with in the country. But much still need to be done.

Prof. Oloyede must be prepared to build on and even surpass Dr. Adegbite’s legacies.

The new NSCIA Scribe should immediately set to work on how to further bridge the gap between Northern and Southern Muslims. One fervently believes that this will not be a difficult task for the former Vice-Chancellor, being a Southern Muslim with pan-Nigerian world view and having a lot of friends and associates throughout the country and especially in the North to boot. As a first step, the new head of the NSCIA secretariat should set in motion modality for erasing the manifesting dichotomy between Northern and southern Muslims in the discordant timing of the commencement and termination of the yearly Ramadan fast. Every Nigerian Muslim was happy over the national concurrence in the timing of the last Ramadan timing, the first in recent history.

The new NSCIA Secretary-General should also use his national exposure to begin a more serious search for inter-faith harmony in the country. He should initiate a constructively engaging inter-faith dialogue between Muslim and Christian leaders with the ultimate aim of bringing religious leaders from both divides together for a sustainable harmonious co-existence. There is no gainsaying that fact that most religious crises the country has witnessed so far were instigated by the incendiary statements of religious leaders. So, if the leaders could be made to see reason why they should preach what both religions teach to their congregation – the bottom-line of which are human brotherhood, peace and harmony – no adherent of any of these two faiths would carry arms against the other.

With Prof. Oloyede at the head of NSCIA Secretariat, it is expected that the Islamic body would take on a more pro-active role in national politics, a role that is expected of religion as the conscience of any society. He is expected to lead the NSCIA in championing a programme of national revival and ethical reorientation, with emphasis on the role of religious leaders in rescuing the nation from the precipice which politicians are currently pushing it. There is no denying the fact that Muslims occupying leadership positions in the country today are not living up to their callings. So, there is an urgent need to initiate a national programme to monitor Muslims holding public offices to harmer on them why they should be exemplars to their non-Muslim counterparts. This will not only help in positively projecting the image of Islam, it could also be the dawn of a new era of accountable leadership and ultimately smooth national development.

With his rich pedigree of a man with a Midas touch and a Nigerian who is in a hurry to make his mark in every position that Providence has thrust on him, it will not be out of place to say with certainty that Prof. Oloyede will make a difference in his new assignment and the Muslim community and Nigeria at large will be the better for it.

A shrewd manager of men and resources, Prof. Oloyede has become a reference point in University administration not only in Nigeria but in Africa as a whole. A stickler for undiluted academic excellence and uncompromising discipline, he left an indelible mark at the University of Ilorin where he was Vice-Chancellor until October last year. Acknowledged nationally and internationally, he was instrumental to most of the feats achieved by the University in recent times. The tenure of Prof.

Oloyede as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (2007 – 2012) witnessed an unprecedented transformation of the 35 year-old second generation university such that the institution naturally becomes the most-sought after institution by admission seekers in the country. Not only is the academic calendar now predictably stable unlike what obtains in many other Nigerian universities, the quality of graduates produced by the university every year is superbly excellent as attested to by employers of labour and foreign institutions of higher learning where University of Ilorin products continue to break academic records and set new ones.

Prof. Oloyede’s sustained association with the President-General of the NSCIA, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar is another pointer to the fact that the organisation’s headship would be a great study in harmonious team spirit. And this will positively enhance consensus building for the benefit of Nigerians

Akogun is of corporate affairs directorate of University of Ilorin.