The Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society has called on Islamic scholars and Imams to lead the fight against corruption in the country in order to fast track the socio-economic development of the nation.
Executive Director of the Society, Imam Adeyemi Fuad made the call on Friday at a sensitisation programme termed “Encouraging Accountability and Transparency through Faith-Based Intervention (EAT- Fln) for Islamic scholars and organisations.
Officials from SMEDAN, JAIZ Bank and other financial institutions were at the programme to teach the scholars on how to empower themselves in line with Islamic tenets.
Mr Ibrahim Abdulmalik, Deputy Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion, SMEDAN in his paper titled “Mobilising Resources for Investments” said SMEs were critical to empowering Nigerians.
He said the scholars can get interest free loans from Islamic financial institutions with good proposals on any SME of their choice.
A communique issued at the end of the programme called on scholars to endeavor to evaluate the programmes with benchmarks to measure their success.
It also called for government at all levels to create the enabling environment that will afford scholars to be financially independent to serve as role models in their communities.
He said the programme which was launched in 2018 in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation seeks to train scholars on how to educate their followers on the dangers of corruption to the society and the nation at large.
He said this particular sensitisation programme was organised to enlighten about 50 Islamic scholars in the FCT on how to empower themselves through Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), so that they are self-reliant and do not have to rely on corrupt officials.
