I would love to see the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs issue this joint statement on the Covid-19 pandemic

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) We have suspended the collection of tithes and zakat contributions from all our members until further notice. Given the hardships many of them are facing, it would be morally wrong to collect money from them now

(2) Every registered imam and pastor who is a member of our organisations will take a 50% pay cut for this month of April 2020

(3) When this pandemic ends and we have the Herculean challenge of rebuilding Nigeria’s economy, every single one of our members commits to auctioning off their private jets and investing the proceeds in job creation and wealth generation

(4) We both undertake to assist the federal government with the distribution of basic food items. Given our presence in every one of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas, we pledge to take foodstuffs from local government headquarters and distribute them across the wards. We promise not to miss one Nigerian family

(5) In each local government area, we shall have at least one soup kitchen where the hungry can go and feed. We pledge that the programmes will be jointly run by the local imams and pastors

(6) Any of our members who defies the government’s health warning and opens up their church or mosque during the lockdown will be expelled. We do not condone such extremism

(7) We each commit to generate at least $20bn each post-Covid-19 in Christian and Islamic finance annually. Nigeria will desperately need private investment to get back on her feet after this pandemic and we promise to be at the vanguard of this effort

(8) We will both as corporate bodies seek to purchase and run sectors and parastatals of the economy that are currently comatose and in need of investors. Be it the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, the Iwopin Paper Mill, the Jebba Sugar Company, any of our electricity distribution companies or our refineries, we give a solemn pledge today that we will raise the private sector capital required to get all these facilities running at full capacity

(9) We have suspended all pilgrimages to Israel and Saudi Arabia for the next five years. We shall use these funds to rebuild the Nigerian economy and banish poverty from our land

(10) We shall make available one hospital each run by our own doctors and nurses where patients suffering from coronavirus will be treated free of charge