The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi yerterday urged governors of Northern states to convert mosques into primary schools.
Speaking during the Kano Educational Week programme, he stressed that mosques were not initially meant for prayers alone.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, disclosed that historically mosques were used for marriages, leadership trainings and for academic activities.
Sanusi appealed to northern state governors with many mosques to return to the practice so as to save money for other needs.
The Emir recalled how he travelled to Morrocco and saw mosques being used as lecture hall for university programmes.
According to the Monarch, if the idea was adopted, funds allocated to building schools could be used to train teachers and provide welfare and other teaching instruments.
He said, “I was in Morocco sometimes ago and I asked to see their universities. They took me to mosques where I saw each serving as classrooms teaching Computer Science and other subjects.”
Accordingly , the commissioner in charge of information, Kano State, Mohammed Garba, pointed out that the advocacy was a welcome idea, which falls within the tenets of the Islamic religion.
According to the commissioner, the whole essence of the Islamic religion was rooted in the Arabic word ‘Ikrah’, which means ‘read’ and provision of knowledge.
“This was one of the messages sent to Prophet Mohammed and by implications, it means that all should read and understand better and as such using the mosque for learning would be a step in the right direction.” He noted