LASG Saves N2.4bn From Ban Of Pilgrimage Sponsorship

Lagos State Government yesterday said it has saved a whopping sum of N2.4bn from the stoppage of sponsorship of the holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem.

The state’s Commissioner for ‎ Home Affairs, Dr Abdul-Hakeem Abdul-Lateef, who said this at a briefing explained that about 1,000 residents were before now sponsored for the pilgrimage at both the local and the state government levels, adding that government would judiciously utilise the tax payer’s money.

Dwelling on the ‎enumeration of Churches, Mosques and Religious Organisations across the state, AbdulHakeem, said that the Ministry was presently imputing data of every place of worship located in the state on a centralised database.

He said, “This is to allow the State Government has a reliable data of churches, mosques and their locations, with a view to carrying them along with state Government policies. It is expected that the policy, because of effective resource allocation and efficient management inherent in it, will bring and extend benefits to many more churches and mosques in the State. At present, the website has over 10,000 data of both Moslem and Christian Religious Organisations across the state.”

The commissioner said the government has continued to operate citizen’s participatory, strategic communication approach to ensure the sustenance of peaceful co-existence among residents irrespective of their ethnic and religious persuasion,

He explained that it is a creative and complementary mix of public enlightenment campaign, sensitization, mobilization, advocacy and media, publicity campaign, with in-built feed-back mechanism, which has desired effective impacts and outcomes.