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THE Muslim Teachers Association of Nigeria (MUTAN), Lagos State, has appealed to parents and teachers to provide guidance to adolescents and safeguard them from the harmful contents of social media.
This charge was given at the occasion of this year’s Ramadan lecture of the association, held at the Government College, Surulere, Lagos.
Delivering the lecture entitled ‘The Use of Social Media by Adolescents: The Islamic Perspective’, the missioner of MUTAN, Alhaji Abdulwahab Lawal, said Muslim parents and teachers had tremendous roles to play in guiding the young ones to understand the danger involved in indiscriminate and excessive use of the social media.
Lawal identified some of the benefits of social media to include giving access to beneficial knowledge, exposure of Muslims and non-Muslims to Islamic body of knowledge, access to different professions and their requirements, opportunity to education, scholarships and access to breaking news worldwide.
He declared that Islam is not opposed to social media per se but stressed the need to guard against the harmful effects such as waste of time meant for studies and other beneficial purposes on chatting, exposure to pornographic sites, meeting strange persons who may endanger their lives as well as propagation of fake and harmful news.
He, therefore, charged parents to create social media-free zones and time in their homes and set good examples for their children.
On the part of teachers, he said they should encourage the students to take advantage of the educative and useful part of social media through tasks that require the use of social media.
The chairperson of the lecture and Tutor General/Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Education District VI, Dr (Mrs) Shareefah Adejoke Yusuf, implored Muslims to exploit the good side of social media to benefit themselves and the society.
Emphasising the importance of capacity building, she challenged Muslims in positions of authority to develop the leadership skills of their subordinates, saying there is no success without successors.
The new president of MUTAN, Alhaji Maruf Gbadamosi, challenged government at all levels to pay attention to the issue of insecurity and economic emasculation of the people as a result of government policies such as the recent currency redesign.
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