By Akeem Oduyoye
The Nasrul-lahi-li Fathi Society of Nigeria has revealed plan to feed about one million Nigerians during and after the Ramadan fast.
The President of the association, Ayodeji AbdulRauf, revealed NASFAT’s plans to journalists, over the weekend during its annual Ramadan lecture tagged “Despair not of the mercy of Allah” at its Islamic Centre in Assese, Ogun State.
“In Lagos alone, we target feeding 60,000 people; likewise, in all other locations across the country. We are giving at all our locations a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 8,000 people. We know some are doing up to 10,000.
“I know Kaduna has started since the beginning of Ramadan. They are feeding about 1,000 people per day. So, Kaduna today would have fed close to about 6,000. And this includes the Sahur and Iftar. By the time we finished Ramadan and the entire program, NASFAT alone would have fed over a million people.
“The feeding programme we intend to continue even after Ramadan. Everything depends on our members. It may not be daily. We may decide to pick a particular quarter to do it. Everything depends on the kind of funds we can raise.” AbdulRauf said, calling on Nigerians not to despair in the face of the current economic challenges facing the nation.
A guest speaker, an associate professor of the Department of Foreign Language, Lagos State University, Dr Saheed Timehin, speaking on the theme of the lecture, urged Nigerians not to despair in the face of current economic challenges.
“We should be talking about Ramadan today. But NASFAT, in its wisdom, decided to address an issue that is affecting everybody, especially during this harsh economic situation where everyone is in a state of hopelessness and helplessness. This is the reason why we want to examine the concept of despair,” Timehin said.