OF NIGERIA, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE OIC
The following is a short piece sent to me via WhatsApp, by a friend…….
As we get into the holy fasting month of Ramadan, I think it is time for Nigerian Muslims to get their act together and come up with a comprehensive Islamic finance package that will deliver at least $50bn worth of foreign direct investment annually
Ayo Akinfe
[1] Half of Nigeria's population is Muslim and like their brethren all over the world, they are now fasting. Do you know that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was founded in 1969? Since its creation, the body has provided billions of dollars worth of funding for its members to help them with infrastructural development.
[2] Nigeria joined the IOC in 1986 but alas, I am still struggling to see what we have got out of it. We cannot boast of attracting $1bn worth of investment, while the likes of Malaysia, Indonesia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, etc, can boast of attracting hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructural development across their nations
[3] I think it is time Nigerian Muslims ask their leaders in the NSCIA why our country is yet to benefit from its membership of the OIC. This same OIC has helped secured billions of loans in for infrastructural development for its 57 members but alas, Nigeria is not part of that progressive movement
[4] Across Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, etc, Islamic finance is being used to build railway lines, dams, tunnels, conference centres, five star hotels, bridges, power plants, etc. I want to know why Nigeria has not benefited in a similar manner to these countries
[5] In Turkey for instance, do you know that the Islamic Development Bank provided more than $40bn in trade finance for its exporters during the course of 2019? Turkish hazelnuts, raisins, dried fruit, etc are exported worldwide using trade finance supplied by Islamic banks. Has the Nigerian groundnut, cashew, cocoa, cassava, yam, shea nut, etc sectors received $1 of such financing?
[6] As if that is not enough, the Islamic Development Bank provided funding for two major Turkish rail projects. It funded the Gaziray Suburban Line and Light Rail Transit Project (€63m) and the Kayseri Light Rail Transit Project (€30m). I think Nigerian Muslims should be insisting that $20bn be made available to fund a Lagos to Abuja high speed rail link
[7] Do you know that in the UK, there are five licensed, fully Sharia-compliant banks, with more than 20 other banks offering some form of Islamic banking. Across the UK, there is more than £500m of Islamic funds, hosting the issue of 65 sukuk (bonds), worth £35bn. Just imagine if we had access to that £35bn in Nigeria. We need at least that annually to fund our infrastructural deficit
[8] One of the beauties of Islamic Finance is that the interest on its loans are very low. I love Islamic Finance because their banks do not charge exorbitant rates as they only cover their costs. Under no circumstances will repayments enter into double digits for instance
[9] I would love to see President Tinubu invite about 20 Islamic banks to Nigeria during Ramadan and show them the benefits of investing in this huge market of 200m people
[10] I am also throwing down the gauntlet to the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the president of the NSCIA. He should set an annual investment target of at least $50bn. Every genuine Nigerian Muslim should see it as their patriotic duty to bring Islamic investment into the country if we are to overcome our infrastructural deficit
ayoakinfe@gmail.com
And below is my response to the short article…….
The "Organisation of Islamic Cooperation" once was known as the Organisation of Islamic Countries. I don't know when the name was changed, or even if it ever was changed.
And, again to the best of my knowledge, that organisation was founded strictly for the benefit of Moslem countries. Islamic countries. Not for Christian countries, or for countries of other religions.
Nigeria, today, is more of a Christian country than a Moslem country.
When it joined the OIC in 1986, Nigeria then was still on the way to becoming an Islamic nation. Moslems then occupied almost all the spheres of leadership, most especially at the Federal level, and almost in all its entirety in the North. But today, the story is different.
Today, Christians have taken over almost all aspects of social, corporate, communal, government, and other spheres of life - in almost all its entirety, both in the South-East and in the South-West. And even in the North, where Moslems still hold an admittedly large sway, Christians have encroached drastically ever since the notoriety of Boko Haram arose. So tell me then, which Islamic country is the OIC funding and investing in, if it invests in Nigeria?
Of all the countries mentioned above - as benefiting from the OIC's largesse - only the United Kingdom is not Moslem, and even it is liberal enough with other religions apart from Christianity to have had Rishi Sunak be a Hindu.
Nigerian Christians are not that liberal. They are mostly fanatics, extremists, radicals, and fundamentalists, be it in the Pentecostalism that now has its leaders be known as delinquents, or even in Orthodox churches like unto the Catholics, the Anglicans, and the Methodists.
When Nigeria initially joined the OIC in 1986, there was a long-lasting uproar of dissent from these extremists, all over the nation. Why then are they now begging the OIC for investment and funding, despite all the atrocities with which they oppress and victimise those of other religions all over the country? Do they really believe Moslems are that stupid?
Ikoro Iyineleda
BSc, PGDE, PGDFM
Author
Masculinism
Bridegroom and Servant-Leader
The Pride of Machismo Renaissance
5th of March, 2025.
