In view of the present insurgency by extremist Boko Haram, the Japanese governments, through the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) has trained two hundred clerics on how to change people’s perceptions on what Islam really is.

The clerics pointed out reasons why some Muslims support violent extremism, their lack of vast knowledge on the religion and the ordinary Muslims without sufficient grounding in Islamic learning left confused as major causes of the extremist groups.

The Programme Officer, Mr. David Omogede, saidin other to ward-off the ideology the Boko-Haram sect have engraved on people, they have trained 80 clerics in Maiduguri, 60 in Yobe and another 60 in AdamawaState.

He added that that the manual used for the training are compiled by Islamic scholars from the Da’awah center also from Professor Hauwa Umar and Professor Sani Umar of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

Professor SaniUmar said “we are here to dialogue with our colleagues in other to identify radical views, see how to tackle the problem of extremism and impacting the right knowledge of Islam to our students” he said.

Mr. David said the beneficiaries of the trainings are mostly teachers, leaders from communities and the teachers of Almajiri’s that have enormous influence within their communities and would be able to preach within mosques and communities. (Daily Trust)

•Photo shows Boko Haram insurgents.