Olu of Lisa charges religious bodies to establish welfare fund to ease hardship

Religious bodies have been charged to establish welfare fund for the people to ease tension and pressure orchestrated by economic hardship facing the country, the Olu of Lisa, Oba Nojeemdeen Oladele Odugbemi has said.

Olu of Lisa, Oba Nojeemdeen Oladele Odugbemi gave the charge during his speech at the 5th anniversary of Warof Aanaahu Islamic Relief Foundation in Lisa over the weekend.

The monarch posited establishing the welfare fund with no interest will reduce sudden and premature death experienced by people when they find it difficult to repay loans with high interest borrowed from banks.

Oba Odugbemi added that establishing such fund will complement the efforts of the government aimed at ameliorating the sufferings of the masses as government alone cannot do everything because of the enormous responsibilities.

The monarch enthused that there have been cases of premature deaths in the country because of thinking of how to repay loans at shortest time which resulted into high blood pressure and eventual death.

He urged the religious bodies to set up such fund at no interest in order to better the life of the people which according to him must be done with trust and sincerity of purpose.

The Lisa monarch commended the members of the Board of Trustees of the foundation for the trust among themselves and for sustaining the foundation since its inception five years ago.

The president of the Board of Trustees, Alhaji Balogun Nurudeen who had earlier paid homage to the Olu of Lisa in his palace, in his  emotional speech said that the foundation has recorded some achievements in the last five years to include loan empowerment scheme for members, community social responsibility project like drilling of boreholes, acquisition of about 20 acres of land for the foundation estate and building of meeting halls and mosques at various branches.

Others are giving out palliatives to the needy and indigents, assistance to widows in cash empowerment and paying of school fees for the orphans, installation of street lights in all their branches and increase in membership as well as expansion of branches from eight to more than seventy branches among others.

The Foundation President hinted that these achievements spread to all over their branches across the country with branches also in South Africa and United States of America.

He assured that members of the foundation will not relent in their efforts to ensure that people are raised from the poverty level and in no small way contribute to the economic development of the country.

Highlights of the programme include giving out loans to the tune of fifty million naira, five million naira to reward to members of the foundation, empowerment of vehicles, sowing machines, deep freezers, tricycles, motorcycles, dryers among others worth fifty million naira.