The Nasrul-lahi-li Fathi Society of Nigeria, a Muslim prayer group, has said it will be feeding about 60,000 Lagos residents as part of its plan to feed and one million Nigerians across faiths during the month of Ramadan.
The President of the Association, Ayodeji AbdulRauf, revealed NASFAT’s plans to journalists during its annual Ramadan lecture tagged “Despair Not of the Mercy of Allah” at its Islamic Center in Assese, Ogun State, on Saturday.
AbdulRauf said, “The feeding program we intend to continue even after Ramadan. Everything depends on our members. We expect collaborations with external people to join us in actualizing this target. We intend to continue even after Ramadan. It may not be daily. We may decide to pick a particular quarter to do it. Everything depends on the kind of funds we are able to raise.
“In Lagos alone, we target feeding 60,000 people; likewise, in all other locations across the country. We are given at all our locations a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 8000 people. We know some are doing up to 10,000. “I know Kaduna has started since the beginning of Ramadan. They are feeding about 1,000 people per day. So Kaduna today would have fed close to about 6,000. And this includes the Sahur and Iftar. By the time we finished Ramadan and the entire program, NASFAT alone would have fed over a million people.”
The NASFAT’s National Women Affairs leader, Alhaja Ganiyat Babalola, charged women to support their husbands and families to survive the current high cost of living in the country.
“Nobody is feeling the impact of the current situation of things in the country. I appeal to women, no matter how much a man or family could be earning with the high cost of living now, to be patient.
“We should make do with whatever is available and talk to our children so that we live within our means. As it is, if we have food for two people, I can assure you that it can be enough for four people,” Ganiyat appealed.
Speaking to the theme of the lecture, an Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Language, Lagos State University, who is also one of the guest speakers, Dr. Saheed Timehin, urged Nigerians not to despair in the face of current economic challenges.
He stated, “We should be talking about Ramadan today. But NASFAT, in its wisdom, decided to address an issue that is affecting everybody, especially during this harsh economic situation where everyone is in a state of hopelessness and helplessness. This is the reason why we want to examine the concept of despair.”