Islamic groups float feeding platforms during Ramadan

.. Support fight against COVID-19

Scores of Islamic organisations are now organizing feeding platforms as a succor to Nigerian Muslims during the Ramadan fasting. Already, the COVID-19 pandemic is having its toll on Nigerians who have been unable to go to their workplaces, but several feeding programmes are in the offing to relief Nigerians of the impact of lockdown during Ramadan.

Among the groups are the Pious Muslim Women, which is set to feed about 2000 Muslims across nine states during the Ramadan fast. The founder of the NGO, Dr Hamdalat Yusuf, said that this is the sixth in the series since 2014 when the group was established.
She said: “We cover the major towns of nine states in Nigeria in which most of our members reside. The states are Kwara, Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna, Kano, Niger and Rivers States.”

“Our usual practice is to give raw food stuff such as rice, beans, garri, wheat, semovita and groundnut oil, amongst others.

“However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year, we decided to give a sum of N5000 to each of our beneficiaries.

“The target is to feed about 2000 people across these states”, adding that “This year’s feeding exercise will gulp about N10 million to feed 2000 people.”

In a related development, Anwar-ul Islam Movement of Nigeria of Nigeria has joined corporate and business leaders in donating money to the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

The religious organization has made a donation of N2.5 million to Lagos State Government in respect of the palliatives arrangement by the State Government for the vulnerable in the state occasioned by the ongoing lockdown.

The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Anofiu Elegushi, received the 2.5 million cheque on behalf of Lagos state government. He commended the kind gesture of the organization to support government effort to fight coronavirus.

The National Treasurer of the organization, Alhaji Hameed Ajani who led the team to donate the cheque to the State government commended the effort of government by putting adequate measures in place to curb the spread of the virus. “ We appreciated the healthcare facilities put in place by the government in combating the pandemic,” he said.

He said the need to support the state government arise due to severity of the pandemic and its devastating effect on the limited resources available. “This has pushed the organisation to step up and assist the government to fight the virus”.

Ajani said the steep rise in cases has forced Nigeria’s President Muhammad Buhari to order a two-week restriction on movement and business, except those providing essential services, in Lagos, Abuja, and Ogun state”.

He noted that the gesture was to lessen the burden of those incapacitated by the lockdown order of the government as well as support efforts in the distribution of relief materials to Lagosians.

Ajani commended the efforts of the State Government on the distribution of thousands of stimulus packages to Lagosians since the inception of the lockdown order, stating that it was important for other organisations and religious bodies to complement the efforts of the State Government.