The Lekki Muslim Ummah, LEMU, has doled out over N80million both in cash and empowerment materials to indigent Muslims in the state.  

The distribution which was held at the Lekki Central Mosque, last weekend, was the 2023 edition of zakat disbursement to different categories of needy Muslims in areas such as empowerment, education sponsorship, accommodation problems, scholarships, debt reliefs, medicals and grants for development.

Over 200 hundred beneficiaries smiled home with materials such as tricycles, chest freezers, computers, pepper grinding machines, generators, as well as cash. 

One of the beneficiaries of the tricycles, Mukhtar Abdullah, expressed gratitude to LEMU saying, the gesture will change his life and put smiles on the faces of his five dependants including his wife.

He added that good-spirited individuals and organizations like LEMU were doing more to alleviate the suffering of the people than the empty promises of governments at all levels.

Habeeb Oluwaseyi, Busari Aishat, and Bakare Balkis received cheques as grants to assist them in their education pursuit. Rashidat Adegbite, Akinpelu Saeed, and several others received industrial sewing machines,  while more than twenty Muslims were blessed under the debt relief category. 

The Chairman, Zakat and Sadaqah Committee, LEMU; Alhaji Olalekan Saliu, (FCA) noted that N80 million was collected as zakat this year as against N60 million collected and distributed last year. the amount collected for Zakat this year was higher than what was collected last year.

He added that the significant increase was due to the trust and confidence reposed in the ummah in the distribution of zakat to the needy. 

“With the support of LEMU members and an increase in the number of zakat givers, the amount collected went up impressively from about 55 million naira last year to over 82 million naira for the current year.

This is an increase of about 45% which is unprecedented.

“People are having more trust in the zakat committee. We not only received zakat from Lekki Muslim residents but from Muslims residing elsewhere”.

Earlier in his lecture, the chief Imam of Lekki Central Mosque, Imam Ridwan Jamiu enjoined beneficiaries to be diligent and hardworking and turn the opportunity into a greater venture that will lift them out of poverty. He stated that Muslims should not be the bastion of poverty in the society.

He said, “Avoid begging in the name of poverty but engage in productive work. You must also avoid what is haram and pay attention to ibadah.”

Dr. Kamoru Omotosho, the immediate past President of LEMU, on his part, thanked the beneficiaries for making the LEMU zakat committee realise its dream of impacting the lives of people and improving the image of Muslims in the community.

He said, “I want to thank three categories of people here, first is the zakat committee and its chairman. They have done a wonderful job and I feel so proud that I am a Muslim.

“Secondly, are the executives of LEMU, and then the third group is you who are the beneficiaries sitting here today. You have made the executive committee realize their dream. You might ask me, what is their dream? Their dream is to improve the image of Muslims in the community.