Nigeria, Sept. 17 -- At last Friday's sermon in my neighbourhood mosque, the Anas Ibn Malik Islamic Centre Masjid at AMSSCO Platinum City Estate, Galadimawa, Abuja, the Imam, Bashir Bello Shagari, spoke on the theme, "Rain: A Blessing, Mercy, Trial and Lesson."

It was a timely sermon. Across Abuja, rainfall, once received mainly with gratitude and relief, increasingly evokes mixed feelings. Rain nourishes crops, replenishes water sources, cools the atmosphere and sustains human and animal life. Yet, for many residents, it has also become associated with flooded homes, submerged roads, damaged property, disrupted livelihoods and avoidable deaths.

The sermon invited worshippers to look beyond rain as an ordinary meteorological event. It p...