Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs Dr AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef has debunked news in some media that the state government is trying to pay religious scholars monthly salaries.
In an interview with The Nation, AbdulLateef described the report as “untrue.”
“Lagos,” he said, “is not paying religious scholars monthly salaries (laughs). Lagos is encouraging religious adherents to pay their scholars so that they can create more time to develop them spiritually and engage in more research to educate their members. Many people observe prayers in the mosque, they want their Imam to be with them always for sermons, teach them Quran, counselling and attend to their other issues. Meanwhile, the imam must also fend for himself and take care of his wife and children at home. There is nothing wrong where mosques’ authorities organise salaries for their imams and Mosque’s workers.”
The commissioner urged the Muslims to emulate their Christian counterpart in the area of welfare for their scholars.
He said: “The Christians are doing it, Muslims should emulate that. Religion is private, so you don’t expects the government to dabble into private affairs of the society. The moment the government does it for any group, others including idol worshippers will come for their own.
Government is trying to encourage Muslims to pay their imams, because they spent eight years learning. The same thing attitude replicated when they take their children to Arabic schools, they don’t pay like they do for conventional schools. We should encourage the Muslims to see the scholars as people who workers and the people would benefits more from them if we pay them legitimate income so that they don’t go into illegitimate source of revenue.”
