The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC has urged government’s to consider “giving special palliatives to Imams and pastors” in order to cushion the effect of the lockdown occasioned by COVID-19.
This was contained in a statement signed and made available to reporters by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola
The group maintained that such relief will stem the tide of agitations for early reopening of churches and mosques for normal worship sessions.
According to MURIC: “Like many countries of the world, Nigeria has been under government-imposed lockdown for nearly two months. The citizenry is restless. People are hungry. The open demand by certain religious leaders for their places of worship to be reopened lends credence to the pressure clerics are going through. Even the recent decision by some state governments to reopen religious centres is not unconnected with subterranean agitations from clerics in the states. Deserted for weeks, the house of God longs for warmth.
“The Friday and Sunday assemblies provide regular and veritable sources of moral, spiritual and material supply. The occasional gatherings for marriage, naming and house-warming ceremonies come with sumptuous gifts in cash and material. But the ban on assemblies of more than twenty has put an effective stop on these occasions. Worse still, the cheerful givers now go about with frowns on their faces courtesy of the general economic downturn. The tap from which naira flows into the house of God is dry.
“The impact of the economic nosedive on Imams and pastors cannot be overemphasized particularly for a country whose proletariat is overworked, underpaid and overtaxed. The grim realities of the Nigerian economy call for government’s attention particularly as they affect keepers of the house of God.
“A country like Nigeria whose per capita income is less than $300; a country where the average citizen relies on less than $1 per day; where only 1% of the population has arrogated more than 85% of the common patrimony to itself, leaving 99% overwhelming majority to fight over a paltry 15% of the country’s wealth cannot afford to ignore its clerics. A country which is ranked as the 26th poorest and 20th hungriest in the world even before COVID-19 should pay attention to its clerics in a prolonged lockdown. This class not only has access to millions of their members, they are the opinion moulders.