United Kingdom-based charity organisation, Human Appeal has, in partnership with Nigeria’s leading Non-governmental organisation, Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF) distributed Qurbani (sacrificial animals) to some 10,000 needy Muslim faithful across 21 states in Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, during the 2021 Eid-al-Adha celebration.
Muslim News findings revealed that the intervention, also known as Eid-al-Adha Qurbani Project, was in line with the usual practice of the UK-based charity organisation across the world in bringing succor to every home and putting smile on the faces of the less privileged who couldn’t afford to mark the yearly festival of sacrifice with a portion of meat, let alone slaughtering a ram.
The first of its kind in Nigeria, as Human Appeal collaborated with Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation to perfect the slaughtering and distribution of a total of 942 rams, 50 cows and 25 goats to roughly 10, 000 persons in 21 States of the Federation.
Top on the priority in the distribution of the Qurbani included indigent persons, widows, the physically challenged, families headed by women, among others.
PICTURES FROM LAGOS
Lagos State, being the largest commercial city in Nigeria and by extension Africa, had the lion share in the distribution exercise which also covered the remaining States in Southwest (Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti).
Other geopolitical zones such as North-central (Kwara, Nassarawa, Niger, Kogi, Benue and Abuja); South-south (Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Edo and Delta); Southeast (Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi); core North (Zamfara, Kaduna) were also included in the disbursement.
The Project Officer, Qurbani Nigeria, Mallam Musbudeen Ismail said all the 21 States had various locations where the slaughtering and the distribution took place, adding that, Lagos had the biggest share because of its population and depth of coverage. We had about all the local governments covered.
Mallam Ismail noted that the exercise was successful due to the Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation aged-long experience in disbursement of Zakat proceeds to needy Nigerians, adding that, “the fact that we have administrative offices in all the states in the Southwest except Ekiti and then Abuja made the coordination a success.
PICTURES FROM OGUN
“So, those places got priority. We now have some volunteers whom we collaborate with in other states mentioned. The administrative officers and volunteers were saddled with the coordination. It was mandated that for each area, there must be a coordinating team between 7 and 10 for efficiency and effectiveness,” he added.
On the criteria for selection of beneficiaries, the Project Officer said, “They must be persons who are indigent, elderly, disabled, as well as people who may just come around to ask for it where the distribution is ongoing. Islam recognizes that also. In most cases, however, we have selection of beneficiaries ahead of time.
“We said five days to the Eid, beneficiaries should be selected; two days to Eid maximally, each beneficiary should be given a ticket to be used to collect the meat on Eid day or whatever day fixed. After the selection, they will be notified of the venue and time of distribution.”
In an exclusive interview with Muslim News, the Director of Zakat. And Sadaqat Foundation, Prince Sulaiman Olagunju stated that though ZSF had been into the project of meat distribution to less privileged Muslims during Sallah for more than 10 years, the partnership with Human Appeal was the first of its kind.
According to him, “The partnership with Human Appeal United Kingdom started last year when we submitted a proposal from various aspects of things to be implemented. However, the implementation of a project with Human Appeal started early this year 2021, and that was an Orphan Project.
“On the project of meat distribution, Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF) has been into meat distribution before this partnership for more than ten years. In a year, a minimum of 38 cows are distributed to different locations as support for the less privileged.
PICTURES FROM NIGER
“The slaughtering and distribution of the sacrificial animals (cows, rams and goats) began on the day of Eid through to the second and third days, noting the exercise ran for three straight days.
Our medium learnt that the standard for sharing is a cow to 45 beneficiaries; a goat to 5 beneficiaries; and a ram to 7 beneficiaries.
“That format is what we sent to our agents. But you know, some rams are bigger than others. I’ve gotten information from certain places that some rams were shared among 7, 8 persons more than our own projection; and some cows not reaching 48 persons, but around 38, 40 persons,” Prince Olagunju noted.
“I can’t categorically tell the number of beneficiaries as of now. Beneficiaries vary from location to location. Reports are still being collated. On a preliminary level however, I can say the beneficiaries are about 10,000.”
In his own submission, the Administrative Officer of the Foundation in Edo State, Mallam Abdul Rasheed Jatto was excited that ZSF was able to reach wider beneficiaries with the partnership with Human Appeal in the recent Eid, adding that the organisation looks forward to more collaborations from charity organisations across the world to have more persons celebrate the festival with joy.
PICTURES FROM KADUNA
“We are very happy. We use to do maximum of 38, 40 cows before. Now with the partnership, we are implementing the project of 50 cows, 29 goats and about 900 rams. The fact that we are able to reach more people including Edo State is one joy for us, which we have been craving for long. It’s a project that we hope we could do better or reach more beneficiaries next year.
“When you look at the number of people who have nothing to eat on Eid day, you discover that 20,000 is a far cry from millions of people who are in need. Our hope is that as Human Appeal has come to collaborate with ZSF on the project we have been doing for more than 10 years, that made it possible for us to cover more people, we will get more collaborations in the future from charity organizations home and abroad so that we can have millions of people to celebrate their Eid with joy and happiness.”
