Indigents and charity organisations have received cash and materials from The Companion, an association of Muslim men in business and professionals.

The Companion’s National Amir, Kamil Olalekan, an engineer, during the Lagos District Zakat Distribution ceremony held at the Shamsi Adisa Thomas Mosque Hall, Old Secretariat, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, commended Lagos and other districts for reviving one of the pillars of Islam.

Olalekan urged other members to get involved in the advocacy project and not limit the job to just members of Zakat committee.

This, he said, would translate to higher number of contributors or donors, Zakat Fund and beneficiaries. According to him, the collection and disbursement is more relevant in Nigeria of today, because of the bad state of economy, which has driven many more people into poverty and hunger.

More people, he said, need help and the association cannot afford to disappoint them. “We must target our Muslim friends, colleagues, business men and businesses to educate them and collect their Zakat /Sadaqah… My personal observation is that a lot of Muslims spend their money on Hajj and Umrah, neglecting Zakat and Sadaqah obligation. We must, therefore, view our efforts as a tripod, which benefit the payers or givers, receivers and society at large,” he said.

Olalekan urged beneficiaries to judiciously utilise the cash/materials given to them to earn the pleasure of Allah.
“Those who are receiving business support are particularly enjoined to invest the money wisely as I pray to Allah to raise you in financial status to be in position to pay Zakat/Sadaqah in near future,” he said.
Group Managing Director, Courtville Business Solutions Plc, Dr. Ismail Adebola Akindele, who chaired the event, praised the group for trying to reduce poverty in the society by empowering the needy.

Zakat, he said, was meant to redistribute wealth to have more self-independent people in the society, with this kind of effort, Akindele said poverty would be reduced in the country.

Guest Speaker, Sheikh Saheed Ahmad, said Zakat would empower many and help in reducing social vices. He lamented that many youths engaging in acts of delinquency because they are idle.

“If our youths are meaningfully engaged, they would turn important contributors to national development. But when there is nothing for them to do, no resources to earn a better living for themselves, naturally, they will express this anger through whatever means they deem necessary. So, it will go a long way if fully deployed, to reduce youth restiveness,” he said.

FAJIM Medicare Foundation Founder, Prof. Fatimah Abdulkareem, who received a cheque on behalf of her foundation, said the fund would aid their mission of touching lives of less privileged.

Prof. AbdulKareem noted that with the fund, her foundation is sure to provide scholarship for two indigent students this year.

“At Fajim Medicare Foundation, we concern ourselves with offering support to the vulnerable in the community. We do free medical outreach. We give scholarship to undergraduates studying medicine, radiography, pharmacy and other medical courses. And since we started, we’ve given over 42 scholarships. We have done free medical outreach. We have touched the lives of over 3,000 persons; treated them and screened them free.

“This intervention by The Companion Zakat Committee, Lagos District, will go a long way. For example, in December 2021, we gave out scholarship to undergraduates. We gave N100,000 per student. For this,we are sure that we are going to give this scholarship this year to two students. The fund is going to go a long way in assisting our organisation. I thank The Companion and also want to encourage others that are zakatable to pay. Little drops of water make a mighty ocean,” she said.

A PhD student at the Lagos State University (LASU), Mukaila Akanbi, who received N500,000 for educational support, said: “I had lost the opportunity of graduating for my PhD programme due to financial constraints. The main reason I sought funding is to complement my thesis work. Alhamdulilah, I am done with the thesis. I could have been among the students who graduated in April from Lagos State University (LASU) but due to financial constraints I couldn’t. This money will give me a way out to pay the debt owed to the school. And when that is done, I would be able to hold my defense and wrap up the programme.”