Debo Adejugbe: Of pilgrimages, waste of public funds & Jesus’ tomb (Y! Politico)

by Debo Adejugbe

Debo Adejugbe Y! Politico 2

The Executive Secretary of the NCPC confirmed recently that over 30,000 Christians would embark on holy pilgrimage to Israel and Rome in 2013. While the numbers are swelling further with each budget prepared by the government; one cannot but wonder if Nigeria still qualifies as a secular state. 

The recent presidential pilgrimage to Israel has thrown up more questions about how public funds are expended by those in charge of the treasury. There are provisions for both Hajj and the Christian pilgrimage in the Federal Government’s budget and those of the states, where LG chairmen and party stalwarts are mostly responsible for submitting the names of those who would qualify.

“In the 2012 Budget, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria got an allocation of N765, 654, 846, while the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) got N576, 707, 504.” This implies that the Federal Government spent N1.34 billion on pilgrimage in 2012. Couple this with the fact that several states (or most) do allocate funds for both Hajj and trips to Israel in their respective budgets; you will understand how big the business of pilgrimage has become.

The figure for 2012 was improved upon in the 2013 budget, where the Federal Government allocated N1.8 billion, about $1.1 million, for pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia and Israel. Of the 76, 000 Muslims that performed the 2013 Hajj, 70 percent were sponsored by the government and according to Business Day, while it costs N800,000 to sponsor one Muslim pilgrim for about a month’s stay in Saudi Arabia, it costs about N450,000 per Christian pilgrim for an approximately two weeks sojourn on pilgrimage.”

The Executive Secretary of the NCPC confirmed recently that over 30,000 Christians would embark on holy pilgrimage to Israel and Rome in 2013. While the numbers are swelling further with each budget prepared by the government; one cannot but wonder if Nigeria still qualifies as a secular state. The amount spent by the government on religious activities, which as agreed, is not a function of the state is becoming more worrisome.

While Holy Quran enjoined every able-bodied Muslim to make at least one trip to Mecca to perform the Hajj; such injunctions are clearly missing from the tenets of Christianity, but as we say in Nigeria, everyone wants a share of the National cake. Therefore, they (Christians and Muslims) both take advantage of this government handout religiously. What happens to other religions not sponsored by the state?

It is on record that the President of CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) dismissed Christian public officials as not doing enough to contribute bountifully to the spread of their religion. Statements like that gives one the impression that, even, the so called Christian leaders are encouraging looting of the treasury while they turn a blind eye to the heavy corruption in the polity.

The major issue here is not to question the motives of those who perform the Hajj or travel to Israel/Rome; the question becomes: why must the government fund personal/religious tourism while we are still grappling with a dearth of infrastructural development, lack of funds to move the country to the next level, and a geometrically progressive cost of governance that is becoming hard to curtail? It shows a lack of commitment on the part of the government to curb its excesses and channel the meager funds available towards developmental purposes.

This practice did not start with the Jonathan government and at such, no one is putting the blame of the rising cost of allocation to holy pilgrimages to him, but one wonders what his priorities were when he travelled with over 120 presidential aides to Israel. That number is in addition to others, from several states, on his entourage who also draw the funds for their visits from the government of those states; at least 8 governors included.

Travelling with an entourage of over 120 people on government dime cannot be anything other than financial insanity. Granted that there was a ‘business of state’ to be conducted, it wouldn’t have needed over 100 people to sign an agreement that was already done and dusted. This further confirms the fear of Nigerians that their governments, at every level, spend without remorse or recourse to the implications it portends on their future.

The timing of this bazaar pilgrimage has to be worrying. The academic staffs of Universities were already on a strike older than 100 days. The government kept citing non-availability of funds as the reason why it couldn’t keep up with its end of the agreement but it did not reflect on what having an entourage bigger than the Pope’s would have on the psyche of Nigerians crying for an open and understanding government.

So, the President toured Israel and prayed at the tomb of Jesus; how does that affect our economy or the price of Garri? How does that affect the education, agriculture, manufacturing, health and banking sectors? How does it put food on the table of ordinary Nigerians who have been heavily shortchanged on the governance front for years? How will it shelter the homeless? The simple answer is that, it doesn’t have any bearing.

For a man voted to ‘stand tall and lead’ a nation, the amount of time the president spends on his knees is becoming extremely worrisome. It is also very funny and ironic that those who he knelt before and prayed with (on the numerous problems bedeviling Nigeria) did not remind him that, even, Jesus detests “Faith without Works” and emphatically underscored this point while he walked on earth.

Jonathan, who dodged the #OduahGate at home; rather than taking decisive action that, could have shown Jesus and Nigerians that he is serious on fighting corruption, travelled with the same baggage called Stella Oduah to meet Jesus in Jerusalem. As noted in the Bible in Proverbs 15 vs 8, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” The President might have one or two lessons to glean from that passage.

It is time our governments face the business of governance squarely and leave pilgrimage matters to religious bodies that, at present, even for their trading subsidiaries, pay no tax. Let us stop robbing Peter to pay Paul. Government, at all levels, shouldn’t be turned into a charity case to pacify a few at the expense of the general populace.

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Debo Adejugbe is a trained Telecommunications/Electronics Engineer and a certified IT professional living in Lagos. Dad to amazing Hailey and an advocate against Sexual and Domestic Abuses. Debo has political sympathy for the Labour Party. He tweets from @deboadejugbe

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

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