By Jude Atupulazi
In Nigeria, the problem is not always with policies or programmes. It has always been with either implementation or abuse of such. Over the years, indeed, we have seen many otherwise laudable programmes or policies blown away by the wind of abuse or poor implementation, with the leaders looking on helplessly.
To worsen matters, most times it is the same leaders and their minions who contrive to put spanner in the works of such policies/programmes and ultimately killing them.
One of those otherwise good programmes is the sponsorship of pilgrimages in Nigeria by the federal and state governments which has continued to gulp billions of Naira each year. Yet, there have been no positive changes in the lives of Nigerians, beginning with the pilgrims themselves. We have also not seen their impact on our social and economic life.
Rather, billions of money which should have been invested in critical areas are wasted, just because some government officials are also ripping the country off from funds designated for such pilgrimages.
For starters let’s take a gander at the following statistics:
The Punch Newspaper, in a banner headline writes, Governors Sponsor Pilgrims with N14.84bn in Two Years
Thirteen state governors have spent N14.84bn to sponsor no fewer than 4,771 persons on religious pilgrimage, investigations by Saturday PUNCH have shown.
The amount was from media reports of governors who deployed state resources to sponsor Muslim and Christian pilgrims between 2022 and 2023.
A breakdown of the amount showed that in 2023, governors spent N2.53bn to sponsor Christian pilgrims and N7.35bn on their Muslim counterparts.
In 2022, N1.54bn was expended on the sponsorship of Christian pilgrims and N3.403bn for Muslims sponsored on Hajj.
The amount spent on the exercise was not stated by the states, however, our correspondents multiplied the number of the beneficiaries by the price fixed by the commission.
Hajj pilgrimage in 2022 was fixed at N2.44m for those in the North and N2.49m for those in the South. The price fixed for Christian pilgrims for 2022 was not accessible but our correspondents learnt it was around N1m.
Although some governors openly declared that they had stopped sponsoring pilgrims, findings show that many of them still spent state resources to sponsor some citizens.
He stated, “Nigeria is a secular country and so no state should be sponsoring religious activities. Pilgrimage is an activity in Christianity and Islam. Spending a huge amount of money on this calls to question that section of the constitution.
To make matters worse, some of the states might owe salaries. Religious activities do not have an economic effect on governance. Pilgrimage is a private adventure. Anybody who wants to be spiritual should invest in their spirituality.”
The Executive Director, United Global Resolve for Peace, Olaseni Shalom, said considering the country’s economic situation, funding pilgrimages when states could not afford to pay workers was not only irresponsible but also shows misplaced priorities and a lack of touch with reality.
He added, “I urge the new administration to properly look into this wasteful spending. As necessary as the fuel subsidy removal, so is the necessity for the removal of the pilgrimage subsidy.
“Citizens that want to go for pilgrimage must be able to afford it and the state and federal government must also make the country appealing and attractive for tourists to visit and attract investment and investors.”
Also, the Chairman, Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, asked the government to stop funding pilgrimages and invest more in basic amenities for citizens.
He said, “This is a misplaced priority. Religion is not an item under things that can promote livelihood. Those things that are essential include education, food security, health care, and infrastructure. These are the things the government should be investing in. Religion does not come in at any stage at all, and that is why a tourist visa is given to them. Anyone who wants to go on tourism should be prepared to pay for it from their pocket.”
_____________________Now, this story by Punch says it all about the wastefulness and needlessness of sponsoring pilgrimages in our country today. It raises a whole lot of issues. But the chief question remains why anyone would want the government to sponsor them to perform their religious obligations.
We know that we often do not attach much value to things we do not get at a premium. That is why despite the yearly sponsored pilgrimages to the holy lands a lot of impunity is still seen in our land. Many young men use the opportunity of such sponsored pilgrimages to run away, proving that their motive for going there is not genuine. Others use the opportunity to do business, returning to sell whatever they bought there.
Yet, there are those who genuinely need to have the experience of the holy lands and who cannot finance such trips on their own. My take here is that government should find ways of ensuring that only truly poor people are sponsored if there must be sponsorship. For example, civil servants earning less than N40, 000 per month and others in the lower rung of society’s ladder should be beneficiaries of such pilgrimages. Also the religious, such as priests, can be sponsored, being that they really need to go and experience what they preach and gain more knowledge.
Beyond this, the government should cease these sponsorships and channel the money elsewhere where it will be more useful. Yes, government should do so. After all, all these Muslims being sponsored to go to Hajj, are some of them not the ones conniving with criminals to kill in the name of religion? Are some of them not the ones secretly sponsoring terrorists in the North, conniving to kidnap schoolchildren and having ransom paid which they share? Aren’t they the ones answering Alhaji this and Alhaji that?
For the Christians, are they not the ones selling fake products and drugs? Are they not the ones inflating the prices of their products to the detriment of the poor masses? Are they not the ones who as knights cannot say the truth at umunna meetings in their villages? Yet, they will rush to append Jerusalem Pilgrim to their names. How we love titles!
Are Christians and Moslems not among the leadership that squanders the resources of the country? The leadership steeped in corruption?
I believe that when these people begin to pay from their pockets to visit the holy lands they will begin to understand what it means to go there. In this situation, we will not see young men going there to disappear but will go, to truly appreciate what they see there and change for good.
Given the billions wasted every year on sponsored pilgrimages and given the vast areas of our national life needing urgent intervention, it is time government did away with this luxury called sponsored pilgrimages. I do not need to be paid or sponsored to worship my God. Worship of God remains a private matter; not a show which pilgrimages are turning out to become.
Perhaps some people may begin to feel I’m being too harsh but I guess that deep down, they will appreciate where I’m going. We live in a country where people pretend a lot. We make a show of religion; yet we are among the world’s greatest sinners.
Even with the last week, did we not see how a religious holiday period lasted three days? In the East it meant that a whole week was wasted. This is because the average worker and even some business people do not go out on Mondays which they have now turned to a day of rest. Then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to Idel fitri holidays. Of course we all know that civil servants hardly turn up on Fridays.
In the North, I heard that most offices were empty on Monday as preparations for Salah had begun. Chances were that Friday work would be skeletal. Thus a whole week was wasted in a country in dire need to revamp her economy. It is a country of countless holidays and increasing lack of productivity.
Imagine the pains of people who needed to go to their banks for transactions during this period. For me, minus religious holidays, there should be no more holidays, even on Independence Anniversary Days. We have stayed home enough.
As for the pilgrimages, anyone can go but on their own expenses. If they cannot sacrifice money to perform their religious obligations to their God, they should stay at home; after all, prayers can be answered anywhere, so long as there is faith.
