Muslim group distributes items, cash to 36 people in Ondo

The Zakat and Zadaqat Foundation under The Muslim Congress (TMC), an Islamic propagation group has distributed items and cash worth N1.3 million to 36 less-privileged people in Ondo state.

National Operations Manager of the group, Moruf Ahmed, made the distribution and disbursement to the beneficiaries on Sunday in Akure.

The items distributed included sewing machines (both ordinary and industrial), deep freezers, bricklayer’s equipment, computers (with printers) and cash ranging from N50, 000 to N100, 000.

He disclosed that the foundation has spent about N30 million to empower the less-privileged in 15 states this year, as according to him, the gesture is aimed at poverty alleviation among the less privileged in society.

Ahmed urged Muslims to cultivate the habit of giving back to the society to support the poor and the vulnerable “because government cannot do it alone.”

He explained that the foundation is a charity organisation that collects Zakat from those who have and distributes same to the downtrodden and the less-privileged as enjoined by Allah in the Holy Quran.

“This is our third year in Ondo state. In 2017, 31 people benefitted; in 2018, it was 32 people; but for this year, 36 people have benefitted from items and cash of about N1.3 million.

“Yesterday, we were in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state, where about 38 people benefitted and about N2.7 million was disbursed, with equipment ranging from sewing machines, grinding machine to bricklayer’s equipment.

“So far, we have been to 15 states, including Rivers, Ebonyi, Kwara, Nassarawa, Kogi, Niger, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Ekiti and Ondo states.

“We still have five states to cover for this year’s Zakat and Zadaqat distribution and empowerment. These are Edo, Delta, Enugu, Ogun and Lagos states.

“We have the target of going to 20 states in the country for this year. Last year, we covered 17 states; so, we just added three more states.

“By the special grace of Allah, the more we get money from our well-to-do Muslims faithful, the more we are going to spread the gestures to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“Those we have empowered, either by cash or equipment are expected to plough back to the economy and by so doing, they too would have contributed to the economic development of the country,” he said.