Lagos State government to pay imams and pastors as part of a move to regulate religious industry

LAGOS State government has announced plans to pay salaries to religious clergymen such as pastors and imams as part of a plan to regulate the growing industry and combat corruption and immorality within the sector.

Over recent decades, religion has become the biggest growth industry within Nigeria with churches and mosques springing up on every street corner. This unregulated industry has spurred the growth of celebrity clergymen and women who are immensely wealthy, owning strings of private jets and driving flashy cars.

In the case of Christian clergymen and women, they charge their followers 10% of their earnings in the form of tithes. However, despite the growth of these religious houses, Nigeria has witnessed a growth in mortal decadence as there are no guidelines that govern faith, so the Lagos State government has decided to act and regulate the industry.

Under plans announced by Alhaji Abdulhakeem Abdulateef, the Lagos State commissioner for home affairs, some religious leaders will be placed on a salary structure. Speaking during a sensitisation programme for imams and scholars across the state yesterday, he tasked religious leaders to be above board and encourage their followers to shun corruption and immorality.

Alhaji Abdulateef  said: “We shall be willing to even engage many of them by making provision for their salaries so that they can assist government to re-orientate the people for good. Imams and pastors are believed to be men of God, so we need all of you to help us to encourage the right values in the society, particularly in the area of accountability and anti-corruption.

“We must remember that the Almighty Allah will ask all of us to render account of our deeds in the hereafter. So, the imams and other religious clerics should lead us in the right direction because they are our leaders.”

This latest action follows on from moves by the Lagos State government to ban the indiscriminate use of loudspeakers as part of a move to combat noise pollution. Prior to the regulation of their use, loudspeakers used to blare out from street corners as imams and pastors spread their messages to their followers at all hours of the day.