Why Lagos State Should Be Commended For Halting Pilgrimage Sponsoring..

With Nigerians and the international community constantly reminded at the slightest opportunity that the most populous country in Africa is broke and can hardly pay it's workers by no one else but the president of the
country hence it is commendable to applaud the recent reports that's coming from Lagos State concerning the halting of the annual religious pilgrims sponsorship by the state government.

This news is one of the few best in a trying time to have originated from the country which has gone from "grace to grass" since gaining it's independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. Though this halt might have been as a result of the fall in price of international oil price , hence drastically reducing state and federal governments revenue which depends so much on oil sales (more than 90 per cent). This has not only paralysed economic activities in the country as several foreign investors and firms have pulled out of the country and those still in the country retrenched so many of their staff as a result of their failure to break even in a market characterised by economic ditches and this has in-turn increased unemployment and poverty to a large extent.

In a country which religion not only plays a pivotal role in several things like political, social and economic decisions as well as appointments , it must have taken courage and a lot mental strength for the Lagos State government to come up with that decision that makes economic sense at present. This is a country where inflation is on the rise gradually chasing double digits , power distribution is on a record low not even averaging 1500MV while 16000MW is what is needed to maintain constant electricity in the country , hence the government needed to curb some excesses.

For a better understanding of the issue at hand , a qualitative review is vital. The federal government of Nigeria spends more than #14b on more than 8500 Hajj pilgrims and more than 25,000 Jerusalem Christian pilgrims each year. What this means is they out of a total 1.6m foreign pilgrims in Saudi Arabia each year, Nigeriand make up for mor than 5.3 percent.  In economic terms #14b is more than the monthly federal allocation of the five South Eastern States combined together (Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi).

While it may be have been written in the holy Quran for the need for Hajj pilgrimage as one of the five pillars of Islam , it should not be at the expense of a poverty stricken few while the same cannot be said of the bible. Corporate bodies, NGO's , Churches, Mosques , individuals can all sponsor pilgrimage when and if they deem it fit and not the government. The greatest problem with the pilgrimage issue is that it is still the same affulent and highly connected few that are sponsored each year, rarely do the very poor ones without any godfather end up going for this pilgrimage. The fund that has always been pumped in the pilgrimage sponsoring should rather be channelled to more productive sectors of the economy crying for attention.

This is clearly time to have a rethink and do things the right way not minding religion as it is through such ways that our country will only be moved forward.