Soji Ajibola, Ibadan
The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the leadership of its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has lauded the Central Bank of Nigeria’s zero interest intervention scheme.
The Sultan in a statement titled, “Nigerian Muslims and the Interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” signed by the Deputy Secretary-General, NSCIA, Prof. Salisu Shehu, viewed the integration as a welcome development, a bold step towards engendering inclusive growth and a proactive mechanism for averting a looming recession threatening the global economy as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While praying for the effective implementation of the guidelines, the Sultan congratulated the CBN and by extension the Federal Government of Nigeria for achieving this remarkable milestone.
The NSCIA suggested that given the indispensability of financial literacy to achieving financial inclusion and economic recovery and growth, the CBN should use all relevant agencies and avenues, including the networks of the National Orientation Agency, radio and television programmes, among others, to educate the public on the importance of these interventions and the procedures for accessing them.
“The procedures should be made as accessible as possible to enable even the poorest of the poor to benefit from the schemes,” he said.
Meanwhile, as a step towards assisting the FGN and the CBN in achieving the success of the post-pandemic economic recovery, the Sultan directed all state councils of Islamic Affairs as well as all other Islamic organisations to design and implement sensitisation and mobilisation programmes for farmers, businessmen and other eligible citizens.
He added that Imams and the ‘Ulama’ should use their sermons, lectures, lessons, radio and television programmes to educate the Muslim community on the imperative of utilising the interventions.
To this end, he directed all state councils to, after studying the details of the guidelines, organise trainings for Imams, ‘Ulama’, leaders of Islamic organisations, trade unions and farmers associations, as well as other key stakeholders, on the value and procedures of accessing these important interventions.
The Sultan advised Nigerians to take this new initiative as a rare opportunity and optimally utilise it for actualisation of productive purposes it is meant to serve, keeping in mind that this is not free money.
“For a Muslim, a debt is an amanah. In addition to the worldly consequences of diverting the resources to consumption purposes, they should remember that they would account for how they handle and manage it on the Day of Judgement,” he said.
The CBN had released the guidelines for the non-interest version of all its intervention programmes.
The initiative covers the Anchor Borrowers Programme, Agri-Business, Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme, Creative Industry Financing Initiative, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund, Real Sector Support Facility and Credit Support for the Healthcare Sector.
For decades, Sultan noted that Nigerian Muslims have been grossly marginalised in the country’s financial sector and other growth triggering financial interventions of the CBN due largely to the interest element that was usually involved in the schemes.
He added, “For Muslims, who constitute well over half of the country’s population, the question of avoiding interest is non-negotiable, and the majority of Muslims would opt to live in poverty rather than devour interest and face the wrath of their Creator. In the absence of non-interest finance, the result has been a high rate of financial exclusion among Muslims, as high as over 60 per cent in some Muslim majority communities.
“This leads to worsening incidence of abject poverty. The implication is that without non-interest alternatives, the CBN can hardly attain its goal of 80% financial inclusion earlier targeted for 2020, nor can any meaningful poverty alleviation and economic empowerment programme be actualized in the foreseeable future.”