The Executive Chairman of CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, has revealed some of the atrocities being committed in the name of pilgrimage to Mecca and Jerusalem.
Adeniran in a statement issued on Friday, described the state sponsorship of the yearly pilgrimage as a form of corruption, which must be stopped forthwith.
He said, “There are so many atrocities various administrations have been committing, including the sponsorship of pilgrimage. Such atrocities start from lowering the exchange rate for pilgrims.
“There is no government that has the authority to spend public funds on frivolities like religious tourism. Nigeria doesn’t have any religion, so any public fund spent on religious activities, building religious worship places and so on are resources wasted, misspent, misappropriated.
“Every public office holder who has funded any religion has misappropriated resources and they are liable to be charged for misappropriation of funds.
“So, the amount that is being expended on Hajj would have been able to fix some dilapidated roads, educational facilities, and so on. What is the country benefiting from religious pilgrimages and all that?
“We are only improving the economies of countries such as Saudi Arabia and Israel while we are spending our resources unwisely. This is wasteful, unnecessary and reprehensible. Nigeria should stop it once and for all and that should be the focus of the present administration because putting money in things that are not right is misappropriation of funds. It is corruption and should be stopped.”
The President of the Muslim Congress, Nigeria, Dr. Lukman Abdurraheem, also described state sponsorship of the Hajj exercise as fraudulent.
He said it was wrong to use taxpayers’ money to send people on pilgrimage, adding that most states were using the exercise to steal state resources.
He said, “We believe that state sponsorship of Hajj is a fraudulent practice. If you go by what the Holy Quran says, we should only visit Kaaba (a building at the centre of the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia) if we have the means to do so.
“The government doesn’t have to sponsor Muslims on Hajj; its role is to provide good roads, electricity, potable water and other social amenities. States are only using pilgrimage sponsorship to steal money. Any religious person will tell you it’s wrong to use taxpayers’ funds to send people on pilgrimage. That’s why I commend states like Lagos for stopping it.”
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