First Published 2009-12-28  Shock gripped Nigeria Middle East educations favoured by Nigeria's wealthy families or for others crushing poverty are pulling young Nigerians towards radical Islam, security and rights experts said Sunday. The 23-year-old Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a passenger jet over the United States on Christmas Day Friday was a devout Muslim who studied in Dubai and Yemen after being in Britain. "The recent trend of rich parents sending their children for studies in the Middle East has an unhealthy implication, exposing these children to Islamic extremism," said northern Nigeria rights activist Shehu Sani. Whereas most wealthy Nigerians had previously sent their children to study in Europe or the United States, many have switched to the Middle East and Asia to save on the costs and to protect their Islamic values. Children sent to the West had sometimes lost their "moral bearing" by the time they returned home, said Sani from the Civil Rights Congress based in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north. "It is a Catch-22 situation," he said. "While young men who study in the West imbibe a world outlook and dispositions deemed abhorrent by traditional northern Muslim society, those sent to Asia and the Middle East stand the risk of indoctrination with religious extremism." Favoured destinations for an Islamic education were Dubai, Egypt, Jordan, Malaysia and Indonesia, the activist said. Alleged would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is from a well-off family in northern Nigeria but his relatives said he had broken contact with them weeks ago after announcing he was studying in Yemen. "Whatever religious views he held while studying in the UK, Farouk did not get the crazy idea of bombing a plane until he went to the Middle East for further study," said Sani, who is also a neighbour to the family. Scores of agents for Asian and Middle East education institutions are based in northern Nigeria. "Such schools are cheaper and are of high standard compared to those in the West," said one agent, Mohammed Hassan. "The children are also insulated from the moral perversion they inculcate when they study in Europe or America," he said. At the same time, unemployment in Nigeria's north is also sending young Muslims, some of them wealthy, towards radical Islam, said Datti Ahmad of the Islamic pressure group Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria. "Young men from wealthy homes get attracted to extreme religious views out of frustration due to idleness because they can’t secure decent jobs that befit their status after graduating from university," Ahmad said. "Therefore they resort to Islamic fundamentalism, believing that is the way to eternal salvation," Ahmad said. He cited as an example the involvement of young men from high-profile families with the Boko Haram militant sect that has waged deadly attacks in northern Nigeria since 2004. Former national police commissioner Abubakar Tsav said poverty gripping the north was another factor. "There is pervading poverty in Nigeria especially in the north which is pushing a lot of young impressionable minds to religious extremism," he said. Rural families send their children to towns and cities to learn the Koran but many end up having to fend for themselves by begging. "And unfortunately, these child beggars are being brain-washed by extremist elements who bandy about conspiracy theories that the West, particularly the US, is responsible for the country’s economic plight," Tsav said. "These boys grow up with this deep-seated anger and resentment and seek refuge in religious fundamentalism which can be seen in Boko Haram and incessant sectarian violence which characterises the north," Tsav said. Muslim Nigerians have condemned Abdulmutallab's alleged bomb attempt with Lateef Adegbite, secretary general of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, saying it should be seen as an isolated incident. |
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