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This piece is in response
to Mr. Idang Alibi's
postulations in his Daily
Trust column of Thursday,
June 21, 2012, where he
mentioned three out of ten
things that amaze him about
modern Nigeria which was the
third part of the series.
The three things he
discussed in the said
publication started with the
much talked about but
conspicuously misconstrued
(in the Nigerian context)
holy pilgrimages to Makkah
by the Muslim faithful and
to Jerusalem by the
Christians. The second was
the educational backwardness
of the north and the third
the trooping out of
Nigerians outside the
country in search of medical
attention.
Unarguably, there are
somewhat controversial
issues concerning the holy
journeys to Makkah and
Jerusalem every year.
It is laudable the call on
Nigerian governments at all
levels to control waste of
public funds on religious
duties. It is true that Hajj
is one of the pillars of
Islam, with the strict
condition of ability in all
ramifications attached to
it. This means that
pilgrimage to Makkah
predates the existence of
Nigeria and therefore cannot
stop even if government does
not pay a kobo or subsidize
anything attached to hajj. A
clear case to this is that
the number of Nigerian
Muslims who embark on the
non-compulsory lesser hajj (Umrah)
is five times more than
those who embark on hajj
despite government's direct
non-involvement in it.
In relation to Mr. Alibi's
assertions on pilgrimages
from Nigeria, the Sun and
Punch once quoted part of
the Stephen Oronsaye Panel's
reports, which showed that
the federal government
expended N6.449 billion on
matters relating to
pilgrimages between 2007 and
2011. I was shocked by this
revelation that caught the
whole awareness of some
responsible Nigerians. N6
BILLION ONLY IN FIVE
YEARS!!! I felt it was a
very ludicrous observation
that a panel of such caliber
of people could recommend.
Is this amount up to a
single percent of what the
federal government and some
rich states expend on things
that do not benefit a
percentage of Nigeria's
population? This amount,
methink, has been expended
largely on medical, consular
and security services which
are the constitutional
rights on the government for
the citizenry wherever they
are.
And again, who says that
the federal government
favours only Muslim and
Christian pilgrimages. Is it
because the duo is openly
celebrated? How many
billions of Naira is yearly
and secretly paid for
services by pagan priests?
The huge sums of money
allegedly paid off by a
former head of the Niger
Delta Development Commission
(NDDC) were just a tip in
the iceberg. How many
Nigerians visit the same
India that Mr. Alibi
mentioned and several other
parts of the world for their
acclaimed individual
spiritual elevation and
power acquisition? Is it the
poor Nigerians that spend
such huge amounts? It is
still the officials of
government apparatuses and
business personalities who
suck from the public funds.
Nonetheless, there are all
the reasons for government
to be involved in matters of
religion. The federal, state
and local governments and
politicians should never be
discouraged from channeling
resources into ways that
have direct benefits for
Nigerians or larger segment
of our society. It is
believed that people who
have little or no faith and
those who do not believe in
the peaceful coexistence of
Nigerians are they who
wishfully project this
hypothesis that the yearly
pilgrimages have no impact
on our society. If Nigeria
faces immorality from its
citizens at such amazing
level upon all efforts to
ameliorate it, what would
Nigeria have looked like
without these highly
spiritual journeys?!
However, I do not know
that the federal government
sponsors ordinary Nigerian
pilgrims to go to the holy
lands except the negligible
number of officials who
coordinate such large
segment of Nigerians outside
the country within such
given periods of time. They
also conduct specific duties
to pray for peace, stability
and progress of Nigeria and
their states. Is it
something not worthy of
commendation? Again, many of
the pilgrims, especially the
first-timers to the holy
lands come back to Nigeria,
better exposed, informed and
reformed. It has been
observed that many of the
every-year goers have lost
the spiritual taste and
reformatory derivations from
the trips. But in general,
the merits of these holy
journeys are far more
reaching than any observed
demerits. Moreover,
government's non-involvement
will be counter-productive
against its struggle to
ameliorate the country's
damaged image outside.
Performance of Hajj is now
easier and much sought even
with the ever increasing
pricing in hajj fares? So,
if government hands-off
completely from the little
subsidies it grants Muslims
and Christians – who
constitute 90% of the
nation's population – it
cannot stop hajj. What it
will translate to is an
increase in hajj fare and
Muslims will pay for the
hajj seats. Politicians, or
subtly put it, the rich will
not stop to sponsor those
allies and partners in
progress whom they feel
should benefit from their
religious or social
largesse.
Therefore, it is
sufficiently evident that
the call for scrapping
pilgrimage commissions in
Nigeria or withdrawal of
subsidies from pilgrimage
related-matters cannot be an
issue for development for
Nigeria. The establishment
of the hajj commission was
in response to a long search
for a permanent solution to
the perennial problems that
bedeviled hajj operations in
the past, added to the
embarrassment such past
failures brought to the
Nigerian government. I know
that the commission has on
its board representatives
from key government
ministries: foreign Affairs,
Finance, Health, aviation,
interior and the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN). And
as it is today, as many
Nigerians would testify, the
commission has delivered its
mandate to a satisfactory
level commended by the
international community.
But the question in this
regard is: why are some
people not happy that
Muslims and Christians are
benefitting from
governments' subsidies in
matters relating to their
holy pilgrimages? Why all
these attempts to explore
ways to block such laudable
gestures from the federal
government? The leadership
of Nigeria of today is as
wise as Solomon. There can
be no justifiable reason to
stop what over 80% of the
nation's population benefit
from. Religion is an
integral part of human life
and government should not be
drifted away from it.
Both the Muslim and
Christian faithfuls, in
pursuit of their religious
obligations and spiritual
uprightness, become more
devoted when things get
tougher in their
ways.
Muhammad Ajah is a writer,
author, advocate of humanity
and good governance based in
Abuja. E-mail
mobahawwah@yahoo.co.uk
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