Anti-corruption: Clerics tasked on business initiatives

The Just Foundation of the Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society (AIS) has commenced economic and empowerment training for selected Imams and Muslim clerics in Abuja as part of measured to fight corruption in the country. The event is part of the foundation’s anti-corruption Project ‘EAT-FIn (Encouraging Accountability and Transparency through Faith-based Intervention)’ supported by the MacArthur Foundation. […]

The Just Foundation of the Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society (AIS) has commenced economic and empowerment training for selected Imams and Muslim clerics in Abuja as part of measured to fight corruption in the country.

The event is part of the foundation’s anti-corruption Project ‘EAT-FIn (Encouraging Accountability and Transparency through Faith-based Intervention)’ supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Speaking at the event on “Building Community Support”, Mallam Musa El-thani of the Development Initiative of West Africa (DIWA) Minna, Niger State, urged participants to carry their communities along and be on the same page with them in initiating and implementing projects.

“You should ensure community mapping so as to be able understand the needs or problems of the communities. You should also be proactive and synergize with the communities such that you can add to their successes and not to summarily try to replace their entrenched dispositions,” he said.

The Executive Director of the foundation and Chief Imam of the society, Sheik Fuad Adeyemi, said the training has been recording successes since it was launched about years ago.

According to him, there are more people talking on the anti-corruption efforts, more awareness being seen and more courage to talk about corruption.

“We discovered that those who want to talk about corruption and may be hungry. If they talk about corruption today, they may forget t tomorrow. We are working on getting the imams on doing things independently they should be able to stand on their own. The people you want to talk about can withhold their support from you, and you may be forced to change the narratives.

“So we want the religious leaders to be empowered to at least to certain extend such that when they were economically empowered they would be able to say thing the way they are,” he said.

Also, the Coordinator of the project, Dr. Rakiya Momoh-Abaji said she would adjudged it successful as it is meeting the objectives and the target being to reach the nook and crannies of the country, especially the six pilot states with the message of anti-corruption.

She said it was easier to evaluate the women as the impact is more on the women, since they were the ones who run the homes, the society and run the programmes of the men who run these programmes.

“Thus if the women have the understanding to do things right, to guide their children and husbands to do things right, we are definitely going to have a better society,” she said.