SOME non-pluralists have been calling on the government to desist from involving itself in religious activities, especially the holy journeys to Makkah and Jerusalem for Muslims and Christians respectively.
Such calls are made out of a myopic understanding of the all-round responsibility of government towards citizens and the influence of religion. The power of prayer and its manifestation in practical life cannot also be overemphasised.
It is important for well-meaning Nigerian Muslims and Christians to continue to appeal passionately to the Federal Government not to be dissuaded in partnering with them in achieving what is dear to them.
If the government must feed, shelter and secure its citizens, it must also aid them in ensuring the freedom and success of their constitutionally recognised associations.
The two holy trips are attached to individualistic desires because not all Nigerians are Muslims or Christians. But skeletal statistics show that over 85 per cent of the Nigerian citizenry are attached to Islam and Christianity. And if this glaring fact remains undisputable, then the Federal Government has the constitutional backup to support them.
In the long past, the Federal Government has been supportive of Muslims and Christians in many ways to ease their yearly visits to their holy lands in fulfillment of their religious obligations. One of the very critical areas of the support is the grant of concessionary exchange rate.
This year should not be different. Even in recession, the government has not stopped spending on matters that do not have direct impact on 85 per cent of the population. However, the concessionary rate shows the government’s commitment to the affairs of its citizens.
Last year, the government granted both Muslim and Christian pilgrimage bodies a concessionary exchange rate respectively of N197 and N150 to US$1. Something more tangible should be declared this year. Government should not allow these all important journeys to be treated with levity by transacting them with the official rate of N305 to US$1 for 2017.
Abuja
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