Some Seriousness, Religious Leaders!

The organization of this year's annual pilgrimage to the Moslem Holy land is far from hitch-free. The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, the government department responsible for religious matters, has had to step in with a number of sanctions meant to bring back order, sanity and good governance in the organization of the pilgrimage.

Strange as it may be for a religious organization, the organization of the journey has had several upsets due to the cupidity of some of the officials in charge of the organization.There are countless cases of financial malfeasance involving fraud and over-charging. When it is known that many of those listed for the trip are usually recruited from the lower rungs of the social ladder and most often innocent and ignorant about travel details, corrupt practices were rife along the line.

And even when the ministry stepped in to correct the wrongs, it was often too late because the harm had already been done. To emphasize his determination to clear the sector of these practices, the Minister has prescribed the harshest disciplinary measures which range from the definite suspension of licensed agents, recognized by the ministry in the organization, to forfeiting the rest of their allowances supposed to be paid by the ministry.

This is an embarrassing situation; given the fact that these corrupt practices are being registered in a religious milieu where virtues of probity are supposed to reign high. This only comes to confirm the intractability of corruption which is conquering new ground with each passing day as if to say the various measures put up to fight it simply have to be revisited.

Websites of Nollywood, the nerve centre of the Nigerian film industry, are awash with cases betraying the numerous wrongdoings and depravations that characterize the functioning of the church. For long the impression was given that Islam functioned rather well; but these obnoxious practices in the organization of the Hadj confirm the fact that vice seems to have no boundaries and is rather eating deep and fast in all circles of society. Church leaders and Imams are being called before the tribunal of their consciences to avoid the ire of Allah or God. Those who claim to work in God's name should show even a modicum of seriousness.