THE Council of Chief Imams and Ulama (COCIU), Lagos State, has organised a workshop on mosque management for chief imams and mosque administrators across the local governments under the five divisions in the state: Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos Island and Epe.
The workshop, held at the Lagos Central Mosque, Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Lagos Island, was the first in the series of regular programmes that the Lagos COCIU is planning to put in place for the benefit of the Imams.
Apart from the workshop, which is expected to hold quarterly, other programmes of the council include annual seminar for imams, harmonised zakat and sadaqah initiative, establishment of new cemeteries across the five divisions in the state and uniform Jumu’ah sermon.
Declaring the workshop open, the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, commended the council for initiating the workshop on the theme ‘Mosque Management: The Role of Individuals’.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Abdulkadir Obafemi Hamzat, said: “I know that this workshop is being organised with the objective to specifically improve the capacity of our Chief Imams and other mosque workers to effectively and efficiently carry out the responsibility of managing the affairs of the mosque in line with Islamic guidelines. Therefore, management of the mosque is essential as it is a rallying point for all Muslims.”
In an address, the chief host and president of COCIU, the Grand Chief Imam of Lagos State, Sheikh Sulaimon Abu-Nola, disclosed the purpose of the workshop by drawing inspiration from the Quranic injunction on the importance of shura (mutual consultation) among believers and the prophetic tradition: “Wisdom is a lost property of a believer; he is most deserving of it wherever he finds it.”
He said: “When we look at our present situation in Lagos State and other parts of the South-West, we find that we are faced with numerous challenges from economy and healthcare to politics. We therefore must come together to chart a way forward and our take-off point is the mosque.
“Our situation in the South-West is a peculiar one as Muslim-Christian population is in the region of 50-50. This is different from what we have in northern Nigeria where Muslims are above 75 percent.
“In the Arab-Muslim world like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morrocco and Syria, da’wah activities and charitable projects are placed under the ministry of endowment and Islamic affairs. But here, the government is not showing any interest in this regard.
“So, the responsibility to generate funds is left for the individual religion to handle and since all affairs relating to the mosques start and end with our imams, with no commensurate welfare package, it behoves us to look inwards for possible solutions.”
In his lecture titled ‘Mosque Management: Generating Funds from Members of the Mosque’, the first guest speaker, Professor Luqman Zakariyah of the Department of Islamic Studies, University of Abuja highlighted the role of the mosque in the growth of Muslims in both primitive and modern times.
According to him, management of mosque funds is to achieve protection of Muslim wealth, provision of general capacity for the Islamic finance industry and active promotion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On the question of how to generate funds for the mosque, the professor of Islamic Jurisprudence listed public donations such zakat, sadaqah and waqf as potential fund-generating schemes for mosques in Nigeria.
He went further to give practical illustrations of how funds could be generated from personal donations of members of each mosque across the states in a seamless manner.
The National Missioner of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Ahmad, who was represented by Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Adangba, spoke on the welfare of the chief imams and functionaries of the mosque.
Sheikh Ahmad cited lack of leadership skills, materialism, ego and stinginess as some of the problems within the ranks of imams and Islamic scholars that need to be urgently addressed.
At the event, experts and professionals on health, security and legal matters gave brief talks on the importance of the mosque.
There were also admonitions from the Chief Imam of the Nigerian Air Force, Lagos, Colonel Aliu Yusuf; the Chief Imam of the Nigeria Police Force (Zone 2), Lagos, Imam Jamiu Raji and vote of thanks by Alhaji Abdulwasiu Nola.
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