Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation concludes 2021 poverty alleviation with N182.7m shared to 2,426 Lagos beneficiaries

*Your effort is well noticed – Chief Imam of Lagos tells Foundation

*Reiterates call for harmonized Zakat institution

*In 17 years, Foundation has done well – Tirmidhi Jamiu

*Appreciates Sultan’s effort over institutionalisation of zakat in Nigeria

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

The Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, on Sunday 10 October, 2021, concluded its annual distribution of zakat proceeds to the deserving beneficiaries in Lagos State.

According to the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Dr. Sulaiman Olagunju, Lagos, which has bulk of the zakat collected for the 2021 edition, got N182,737,418.02 distributed to 2,426 people qualified to be given in line with he Islamic rules.

He said the Foundation, however, carried out the Islamic poverty alleviation programme in 20 states including Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Lagos and that, in total, N255,500,667 was distributed to 3,199 beneficiaries in all the states where the distribution had taken place for the year.

Breaking down the figures in percentage he said, “The centre of excellence, Lagos State remains the state where the bulk of the zakat from the foundation is being distributed since we started Zakat disbursement in the last seventeen years. This year’s disbursement is not an exemption; over 60% of the Zakat disbursed in the state was used for empowerment of the needy and poor members in our various communities within the state.

“Over 19% was used to provide medical care to patients with different kinds of health challenges, while the rest was shared to rent accommodation, debt relief, educational support for the less privileged members in our midst,” Olagunju explained.

Talking about the benefits to the wealthy Muslims for paying the compulsory zakat, and the community, the executive director said it “will purify” the payer and contribute to the socio-economic development of the society.

“The Zakat paid this year has been disbursed into areas of economic empowerment for the benefit of thousands of beneficiaries, restore hope to several patients, many widows have been empowered to manage their own families, sizeable number of orphans returned back to school, many indigent children school fees paid, paid accommodation rents for many families, five communities were provided with portable water and a lot of poor and indigent people’s challenges and burdens were overcome, courtesy of your Zakat disbursed to them.”

While thanking those that have been partnering with the Foundation by paying their Zakat to it for the progress and achievements being recorded, the ZSF boss, Olagunju, appealed to beneficiaries, among who got mini-burses, units of Keke Marwa, a good number of industrial sewing and whipping machines, grinding machines and deep freezers, to use he zakat benefits to them effectively and efficiently.

In his remarks, the Chief Imam of Lagos, Sheikh (Engr.) Sulaimon Oluwatoyin Abou-Nolla,. who said “your effort is well noticed”, commended the Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation management while reiterating that zakat is compulsory pillar of Islamic religion that every wealthy Muslim within the specifications of Shari’a must pay.

He however renewed his call for the harmonization of zakat systems in Lagos and Nigeria to make lifting Muslims out of poverty easier and more effective.

Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Tijjani Borodo, while presenting industrial machine to a beneficiary, Shuaib Ibrahim Babatunde on behalf of the Foundation, emphasised the need to make good use of the proceeds of zakat and prayed that Allah would assist the given to be able to give in no distant time to come.

Sheikh Tirmidhi Jamiu, in an interview with The DEFENDER during the event, said the journey so far had not been rosy but that “we have had the cause to thank the Almighty Allah because we have achieved a lot for the less privileged Muslims.”

“Looking at the quantum of the poverty level that we have in the country, we still discover that, despite that we are making progress, what we are realising, which we can call supply, is less than the demand of the people available to receive the money collected.

On the link with the top cadre of leadership of the county and Ummah, he said: “Nigeria is living on unity in diversity. As such, our Sultan is playing fatherly and spiritual role and he is encouraging everybody to come in board and take part in the institutionalisation of this Zakat. He is really helping at his own level. But we pray that government will be able to support his own effort.

“By the time government comes in board, like for example in Sokoto State, they have enacted a law supporting collection of zakat and waqf in that state. I think they have it in Zamfara. Probably they have it in Kano. By the time all other states imbibe this and have the edit that zakat can be collected in public, corporate institutions and from corporate individuals, then we will arrive at success,” he said.

On harmonisation of zakat, Sheikh Tirmidhi Jamiu agreed with the Chief Imam of Lagos but said, “If we have to institutionalise the payment, collection and distribution of zakat in this country, those giant payers must come on board. And we pray that Allah will help us to reach that level so that we can enrich and drive poverty away from our Ummah,” he said.

Among other beneficiaries, there was one who got N500,000 cheque presented by Chief Imam of Lagos, Alhaji Abou-Nolla, on behalf of the Foundation for medical reason while a less privileged Muslim got another cheque of N300,000 for her education.

In a programme booklet distributed to guests, at the concluding part done in Lagos, 96 beneficiaries got N7,768,629.13 representing 4.25 percent of the N182,737,418.02 for accommodation, while 20 got N1,518,567.72 representing 0.83 percent for community project, 56 hot N2,728,138.85 representing 1.49 percent for debt relief, 165 got N6,785,945.22 representing 3.71 for education and 564 beneficiaries got N116,380,892.25 representing 63.69 percent for empowerment.

Also, 75 beneficiaries got N35,913,546.72 representing 19.65 percent for education, 1433 got N4,422,998.13 representing 2.42 percent for welfare, and 17 got N7,218,700 representing 3.95 percent for institutional purposes.

Across 20 states of Nigeria, Abia State got N1,655,000 of the total N255,500,667.09 representing 0.65 percent for 45 beneficiaries, Abuja got N3,533,823.26 representing 1.38 percent for 29 beneficiaries and Akwa Ibom got N1,545,000 representing 0.60 percent 31 beneficiaries among others as stated in the book topped by Lagos State which got N182,737,418.02 representing 71.52 percent for 2,426 beneficiaries.

Audited accounts of the Foundation’s collections and distributions were also made available in the programme booklet made available to guests and press at the event on Sunday.

Accountability evidence: