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The Federal Government has come under criticism following its recent decision to subsidise the 2024 Hajj with N90 billion despite allocating only N50 billion for the student loan scheme in the 2024 budget.
Education and legal experts have slammed the decision, noting that spending such a humongous amount of money to subsidise Hajj is a misplacement of priority.
Representing President Bola Tinubu at the flag-off of the inaugural airlift for the 2024 Hajj exercise at Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport, Birnin Kebbi, Vice President Kashim Shettima disclosed that the president had ordered the N90 billion subsidy for the 2024 Hajj.
The VP said the president took this initiative given the economic situation of Nigeria, urging the intending pilgrims to pray for peace, unity, and progress in the country.
Shettima said, “Mr President is committed to this year’s Hajj due to the economic situation. He has contributed N90bn billion to subsidise this year’s Hajj exercise to ensure a smooth and successful operation.
“President Bola Tinubu also works round the clock to control the downward spiral of our local currency to bring relief to our pilgrims and other Nigerians.
But stakeholders within the education and legal sectors kicked against the Federal Government for the huge subsidy on religious pilgrimage, saying it reflects the government’s gross insensitivity to the prevailing mass hunger, rising poverty, and wanton underdevelopment afflicting education in the country.
Former Vice-Chancellor of Dominican University, a Catholic-based institution in Ibadan, Professor Hyginus Ekwuazi, described the Hajj subsidy as a gross misplacement of priority given the state of the Nigerian economy and the depreciating revenue-generating capacity of the government.
He said “It is not just that it is the Hajj, it is that they are channelling the money into where it should not go at all. Whether it is even the Christian pilgrimage or the Muslim pilgrimage, it is wrong and a gross misplacement of priority. We are all looking forward to the day the government will be able to channel its resources to the right areas, where there is demand. Certainly and most certainly, that won’t be a pilgrimage. It will be education, health, and social welfare. Those are the three cardinal issues."
Also he National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the union would holistically look at all pilgrimages sponsored by the government and issue a statement afterward.
Reacting to the issue, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Awa Kalu, urged the Federal Government not to get involved in religious matters because it is not its duty to subsidise religious programmes.
“It’s been discussed for some years now that government should not get involved in pilgrimage or religious matters. I support this. If you want to go on a pilgrimage, gather your money and go. It should not have anything to do with the government,” he stated.
Human rights lawyers have also knocked the Federal Government for the religious subsidy.
