As there is unlikely to be any hajj this year can every potential Nigerian pilgrim please put aside a sum of $1,000 they intended to spend in Saudi Arabia into an Islamic Development Fund

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Everywhere else on earth, people are having to adapt to the changes Covid-19 has imposed on us. Just look at how Zoom has taken off as a social media platform. Nigeria has got to learn to adjust just like everyone else worldwide 

(2) Nigeria is always among the top 10 nations that sends pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. Because the Saudi authorities usually allocate 1,000 places for each million Muslim per country, with 100m Muslims, Nigeria basically has an annual quota of 100,000 pilgrims

(3) These Nigerian pilgrims boost Saudi tourism, enhance their hospitality industry, help develop their infrastructure, enrich their government and boost the Saudi Arabian treasury. Thanks to Covid-19, Nigerian Muslims now have the opportunity to invest in the Nigerian economy for a change. Rather than spend their Nigeria-earned cash boosting the Saudi economy, in 2021, they can use it to develop Nigeria for a change

(4) Let us do the simple arithmetic, if 100,000 Nigerians pay about $1,000 for flight, accommodation, feeding and transport while in Saudi Arabia, that is $100m. Ask yourself how much of a stimulus that kind of investment would be to the Nigerian economy

(5) All I am asking is that 100,000 patriotic Nigerians pay this cash into a Nigerian Islamic Pilgrimage Development Fund and we use that capital as vital investment cash. This fund should be governed by a private sector board of directors, with job creation its main focus

(6) With $100m, you could open a tractor manufacturing plant in say Zamfara State that would create up to 5,000 jobs. Just imagine how many youths this would keep away from banditry

(7) Imagine if 500 of these tractors were sent to neighbouring Katsina State a month. It would not only spur local agriculture but also create ancillary jobs. Just imagine the recently abducted schoolboys being targeted under such a programme

(8) Given the preponderance of sunlight in states like Zamfara, Yobe, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina, Borno, Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, Niger and Adamawa, they could all open massive solar farms. Just imagine how many we could open if investors had access to $100m capital from this Nigerian Islamic Pilgrimage Development Fund

(9) As the project grows, I would invite the Saudis to join in as investors. It is in their interest to part-fund the project because we will tell them that until it is fully up and running, Nigeria cannot afford to send pilgrims to Mecca and Medina. Just imagine the damage we could do to the Saudi economy by embarking on a pilgrimage strike

(10) With crude oil demand in the doldrums, Nigeria’s government no longer has the cash for these kind of programmes. From now on, we have to start using our brains to survive rather than relying on government handouts, so Nigerians need to wean themselves off traditional ways of thinking. I look forward to reading a white paper on this subject from the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.