Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Muhammed Abubakar III has asked the federal government to begin the process of handing off any form of funding for pilgrims to the annual Hajj rituals in Saudi Arabia.
The Sultan, who submitted the 2014 Hajj report to President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja today, said that one of the few problems staring the hajj operations in Nigeria has been the clamour for the self sustenance of hajj operations in Nigeria. This, he said, “will make federal government spend virtually less or nothing in our quest to have an independent hajj operations in Nigeria.
“We know about the report of the national conference about federal government dealing with hjajj issues and we will like to suggest, before the President takes a stand on that, maybe he should set up a small technical committee, comprising of religious leaders of both Christians and Muslims to see how we can be self sustaining and independent: how the various statutes that put together these two commissions could be amended so that we could go ahead and start sourcing for funds.”
Sultan Sa’ad recalled that in his 2011 report, he brought this issue to the attention of President Jonathan, “not knowing that in 2014 such an issue will be brought back again. Where we mentioned (that) the Central Bank of Nigeria and the NDIC should be encouraged to fast-track production of necessary guidelines and framework for the establishment of hajj savings scheme. That is yet to take off very seriously and we believe if that is done, we might have a hajj commission that is self sustaining.”
The Sultan expressed gratitude to the President for paying the outstanding claims which the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) presented to him last year for the airlines that did an extra work in airlifting the pilgrims back at the time Nigeria encountered the hijab problem with the Saudi Arabian authorities .
“We want to report to you that the payment has been done and we thank you for that.
“The report has been put together by a team led by the Oba of Lagos, and I want to assure you that we have done our best and to the pride of many Nigerians. The hajj operations is deemed to be more successful in recent times.”
Sultan Sa’ad also thanked the President for supporting Hajj operations which have resulted in what he called tremendous achievements and progress, saying: it couldn’t have been possible without your total commitment and support.
“You will recall that in August you approved the composition of the 23 member federal government team to lead Nigerian pilgrims and his majesty the Oba of Lagos was delegated to team on behalf of Nigerian Muslims, we want to report to you here that the operations went smoothly and was very successful, despite the earlier challenges of the ebola scare which delayed our airlift by over a week to ten days. Despite that, due to the multi-sectoral approach the President used, the ebola scare was contained and visas were issued to our pilgrims.
“We want to thank you for the dynamic leadership in containing the ebola problem which would have been a very big stumbling block in making our pilgrims to perform hajj.
“The hajj exercise was conducted peacefully without any hitches and it is also noteworthy to inform the President that during the hajj operations there the leadership of the team, the Oba of Lagos and the muslim clerics from all over the country came together and organised special prayers for peace stability and progress of our country and most importantly for the peaceful conduct of the elections.”
President Jonathan received the report and thanked the Hajj Commission and assured that because he took hajj matters serious, all the issues raised in the report will be looked at it.
“The office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation usually do a thorough analysis of it and comes up with specific recommendations of what government should do.
“So your eminence should be rest assured that all your observations, which i will not want you to repeat, will be dealt with, because the government believes that we must encourage religious practice in our country.
“I charge you as religious leaders to continue to pray for the country. The excess of criminality in the North, we have issues of terror, in the South we have issues of kidnapping, these are issues being pushed by negative forces. No person who is really religious in any of the religions can willingly go and kill.
“We continue to pray for the peace of the country, especially as we face the general elections this year. Anytime you open the papers, it is as if the country wants to burn, but Nigeria will surely be safe.
“Nigeria will surely be united and we will prosecute the election in the end and this country will surely be a peaceful country and we will all collectively work hard to transform our economy. But you should pray for the peaceful conduct of the general elections and peaceful transition.” [myad]
Advertisement
