Gov. Abiodun to spend N3.1billion on Christian, Muslim pilgrimages amid high unemployment rate

By Damilare Adeleye

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has earmarked a total sum of N3,129,716,873 in the state’s 2025 budget to sponsor Muslim and Christian adherents on foreign pilgrimages.

In the budget signed into law by the governor on December 30, 2024, the sum of N1,879,556,873 was approved for the Muslim pilgrimage, while N1,250,160,000 was okayed for the Christian exercise.

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Pilgrimage is a journey made to some sacred places as an act of religious devotion. In Nigeria, Muslim faithful embark on pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, while the Christian counterparts visit Jerusalem and Rome for spiritual obligation and encounter.

Though Nigeria, Ogun State inclusive, is a secular state which does constitutionally recognize any religious practices, yet records revealed that the Ogun State government has expended no fewer than N6,748, 870, 451 on pilgrimage for the both religions in the last three years.

In May 2024, Governor Abiodun also paid N119,560,712 shortfall in the Basic Travel Allowance of the state Muslim pilgrims.

The chief press secretary to the governor, Lekan Adeniran, claimed that the gesture benefited all the 934 pilgrims for the 2024 Hajj.

It was learnt that the shortfall was due to the unexpected changes in the foreign exchange rates.

Notwithstanding that pilgrimages hold great significance to religious people, some Nigerians have consistently described its sponsorship by government as wasteful, frivolous and misplaced priority.

They argued that such adventures are personal issues to individuals because the entire exercise does not contribute to Nigeria’s development and economic growth.

The approval of the billions of naira for pilgrimage by Governor Abiodun government came amidst high of unemployment rate in the state.

A 2023 Labour Force Survey published by to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) ranked Ogun in sixth position among states with highest number of unemployed population in Nigeria.

It was indicated that Ogun state has an unemployment rate of 8.8% in 2023 with over 260,000 people unemployed during the period.

Commenting on sponsorship of pilgrimage, Toyin Hassan, a social media user, described it as a waste of public funds.

He said, “Nigeria is a religious country at same time it’s a secular state. The state must stop funding religious pilgrimages which have little to no returns on the nation. The duty of going to heaven is an individual’s personal and spiritual obligation. What has worldly governments got to do with spirits?”

On his part, Austyn Ogannah, a public analyst, submitted that spending humongous amount on personal religious pilgrimages shows government’s insensitivity to many Nigerians who were grappling with poverty, healthcare system, infrastructure, quality education and insecurity.

He wrote, “The expenditure of trillions of naira in subsidies for personal religious pilgrimages either to Jerusalem or Mecca is a slap in the face of the millions of Nigerians grappling with the ravages of poverty, lack of access to quality education and healthcare, dilapidated infrastructure and the ever-present spectre of insecurity.

“This colossal sum could have been employed to address critical developmental issues that plague the nation, yet it has been diverted to facilitate the religious obligations of a select few.”

Last year, Human Rights and Empowerment Project Ltd/Gte (HREP) approached a Federal High Court in Lagos to bar the Federal Government from sponsoring Christians and Muslims to pilgrimage or Hajj using public funds.

The advocacy group contended that deploying public funds either at the national or state level for the sponsorship of pilgrimage or Hajj contravenes Section 42 (1) of the 1999 Constitution by discriminating against Nigerians belonging to other religions or who do not identify with any religion at all.

HREP also argued that the use of public funds to sponsor Christians or Muslims to such spiritual exercises amounts to according special privilege or advantage to their adherents to the exclusion of others who are not.

Efforts to reach the Governor Abiodun’s spokesman for comment was unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.