Religious leaders or Imams in any society are made, not born, the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of University of Ilorin, and a Professor in the Department of Religious Studies of the University, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has said.

Delivering the 116th Inaugural Lecture of the university last Thursday in Ilorin, Professor Oloyede, who is also the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC), therefore, called for abolition of the hereditary Imamship.

He said the hereditary of Imamship partly accounted for the retrogression of many Muslim communities.

In every society, the yardstick for the appointment of Imams should be strictly those stipulated by Islam, not by hereditary traditionalism," he said.

He also said that terrorism is abhorred by Islam, a religion of peace, adding that, "as such, all real and imagined conflicts should be resolved peacefully."

Professor Oloyede also said that leaders at all levels should be models in character and learning, adding that individuals who are deficient in self discipline, moral and fiscal discipline should be barred from specific public offices.

He also called on the Federal Government to make Islamics and Christian religious studies a component of General Studies in all tertiary institutions, including faith-based institutions.

He said that both Islamic and Christian religious studies should be made core and compulsory subjects up to the secondary school level and reflect the ethnic/religious values of the various communities.

"Ignorance, a major misfortune, accounts for much of the so-called religious crises in Nigeria and it is only the light of knowledge that can dispel the ignorance pervading the land, part of which accounts for the thinking that religion is the problem," he said.