Given that Islam and Christianity are spreading coronavirus across Nigeria more than anybody else at the moment I think it is only fair to ask them to fund the post-Covid-19 development plan

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) It appears that the Nigerian government has given up on trying to get churches and mosques to observe social distancing. Governors across the country are being pressurised by imams and pastors to lift the ban on religious services

(2) One just need to look at the thousands of worshippers who trooped out to observe Eid prayers are the end of Ramadan to realise that we are fighting a lost cause. Religion is simply too influential in Nigeria for our people to take social distancing seriously

(3) I do not expect any of the chief imams who conducted those prayers at any of the Eid grounds to be sanctioned. Indeed, several governors even attended the prayers

(4) To be fair to the Christians, they have been a little more restrained but one can easily feel the tension there too. Several general overseers have been very vocal of late, asking that the ban of religious worship be lifted. They and their followers are of the belief that they are immune to the Covid-19 pandemic as they are covered with the blood of Jesus just as the children of Israel were covered with the blood of the lamb during the Passover. I will be happy to give them leeway to re-open if they invest the billions they have collected in tithes in the Nigerian economy

(5) To be honest, our government has too much on its plate to get involved in a spat with religious leaders. It will be too much of a distraction so I think the Christian and Muslim leaders should just be presented with a Covid-19 Economic Development Plan and asked to fund it as a trade-off. With oil no longer a cash cow, Nigeria desperately needs other sources of revenue and religious finance can help us diversify

(6) As we speak, the Christian Association of Nigeria (Can) and the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) are drawing up easing up plans for the government. They are both putting together proposals that will allow them open their worship centres. Not even the Vatican or the Grand Mosque in Mecca have come up with such plans but hey, that is who we are

(7) Were I in President Buhari’s shoes, I would call the Can and NSCIA leaders to Aso Rock and tell them we will lift the restrictions on worshipping as from June 1 under the condition that they each come up with $50bn worth of private investment in 2020 to fund industrial expansion, economic diversification and job creation

(8) Getting $50bn worth of a Islamic finance should be relatively easy. All the NSCIA has to do is go and see how it has been done in Malaysia, Indonesia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Turkey

(9) Likewise, all Can has to do is go and study how the Catholic Church was the main investor across Europe during the Middle Ages. Most of the shopping ports, city centres, cathedrals, palaces, castles, etc we see across Europe today were built with Christian finance. Indeed Christianity was the major sponsor of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, owning ships, plantations and processing plants that processed the cotton and sugar produced in the New World

(10) We need to adopt a more realistic approach to our problems, one that reflects our realities. Asking Nigerians to observe social distancing and the wearing of facemasks is just wishful thinking. Also, a lockdown is just suicidal as it is a classic case of the medicine being more harmful than the disease. I would settle for $100bn worth of religious capital today in exchange for a top rate of a 5% coronavirus casualty figure. Let us be honest, Nigerians are more interested in religious worship than in public health