The Lagos Secretariat Community Central Mosque, in collaboration with LTV and Radio Lagos, has commenced the distribution of food items and relief packages to some vulnerable members of the society, especially households within and around Alausa in Ikeja Local Government Area of the State.
According to the Chairman of the mosque, Dr. Tajudeen Afolabi, the gesture was to lessen the burden of those incapacitated by the lockdown order of the government as well as support efforts in the distribution of relief materials to Lagosians.
Speaking at the premises of the Lagos Television (LTV) and Radio Lagos/Eko FM, where the leadership of the mosque presented some of the food items and relief materials to the broadcast outfits, the Chairman pleaded with the broadcast stations to help in further distributing the items to vulnerable persons that visit for assistance and support.
He said “We want to leverage on the influence of these stations on the populace such that the donated items can actually get to those who need them genuinely. Being media organisations, those in need of assistance usually come to these places to seek for help, that is why we decided to include the two stations as part of the clusters we’re reaching out to with these relief materials”.
While acknowledging the efforts of the State Government on the distribution of thousands of stimulus packages to Lagosians since the inception of the lockdown order, Dr. Afolabi stated that it was important for other organisations and religious bodies to complement the efforts of the State Government.
In his words, “Today, we have reached out to over 1,000 beneficiaries, the reality is that government cannot do it alone and that’s why we also joined several corporate organisations and individuals that had done similar things and l believe several others would still do likewise”.
He explained that the Executive members of the Secretariat Mosque had earlier handed over some of the donated items to the Chief Imams of mosques visited within the vicinity for distribution to the community members who are genuinely in need.
The Chairman also averred that the exercise would continue, especially now that the Holy Month of Ramadan is about to begin, saying that there will still be Ramadan gifts to the populace to help lessen the effect of the lockdown.
On planned Ramadan activities for this year, he said that there won’t be the usual gathering of the people at the Secretariat Mosque in compliance with the social distancing order of the Government.
He averred that those still gathering in large numbers at different mosques in defiance to the government’s directive, are not true worshippers of Allah, describing them as a bunch of ignorant people.
The General Manager of LTV, Mrs. Siju Alabi and her Radio Lagos/EKO FM counterpart, Mrs. Ayo Sotonwa thanked the leadership of the mosque for their thoughtfulness and gesture to reach out to their immediate community.
