4 News Cash Crunch: Offerings, Charity Reduce In Churches, Mosques •Church Goers Reduce As Beggars Lament Low Patronage

member of Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church (Ayoni), Ayegbaju area, Osogbo, said she usually pay her offering through transfer to the church’s account.

According to her, “The cash crunch is not too pleasing but in every situa on, one must find an alterna ve way of doing things.

“I don’t stress myself paying my offering with cash again. What I do is to transfer to the church account no ma er how small. I prefer to hold the cash with me since there is an alterna ve.

“Although, I don’t know how well other people are using electronic payment for offering, what I no ced is that the number of people who pay offerings by cash has reduced dras cally in the past few weeks”.

Charity Reduces

Beggars Lament

The ugly trend has also affected the alms people give out to the needies, with beggars lamen ng the dras c reduc on in the amount of money they receive from givers.

Speaking with the medium, a physically challenged beggar at Ayetoro, Osogbo, Muhammad Aliu, said the unavailability of cash was a direct punishment on them, lamen ng that people no longer give them money due to the situa on.

According to Aliu, some of his regular givers now greet and wave at him whenever they pass by, urging the government to inject more cash into the system.

•Continued from front page Church Goers Reduce, Offering Suffers OSUN DEFENDER observed that the lingering cash crisis has been affec ng the religious lives of many residents of the state.

It was noted that the impact of the scarcity of cash is being felt in many churches.

Some church goers who stay far from their churches failed to make it to their various worship centres on Sundays be- cause of the cash crunch while those who went to church could not keep up with their regular offerings.

The medium observed that most of the churches now pasted their account details on the wall as an alterna ve to cash offerings.

A member of the Redeemed Chris an Church of God, Mount Zion Zonal Headquarters, Baruwa Street, Osogbo, who spoke with the medium on condi on of anonymity, said the lack of cash affected his weekly offerings.

The member said he no longer goes to church regularly due to the scarcity of cash, disclosing that he was staying at Stadium area.

He said: “The distance from house to church is far and I need to take a bus of N400. The cash crunch has dissuaded me from going to church because some mes, I would not have any money to pay for transport on some Sundays.

“Even when I go some mes, I would not be able to pay my offering or in some cases, pay below the amount I usually give out before. I am not the only one affected by this.”

When asked if doing a cash transfer to the church will make it easier, the member said not every member of the church knows how to make online payment, adding that the amount to be sent some mes, does not encourage people to do it.

In her own comment, Mrs. Biola Samuel, a

Aregbesola Congratulates Tinubu, Says Victory A Call To Duty

Sodiq Yusuf

THE Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has congratulated President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his electoral victory, saying it is a call to duty.

In a congratulatory message personally signed by the Minister and made available exclusively to OSUN DEFENDER yesterday, Aregbesola recalled the long and tortuous journey of the Presidentelect in poli cs, stressing that Tinubu deserves every commenda on for the feat.

The former governor of the State of Osun and age-long poli cal mentee of Tinubu said Asiwaju’s triumph will come with a lot of consolida on of the massive infrastructural development and progressive policies of the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari’s administra on.

Aregbesola said: “I join the leadership of our party, star ng from President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR: the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, GCON, the Na onal Chairman of our party and other members of the Na onal Execu ve Council (NEC), members of the Presiden al Campaign Council (PCC), other leaders of the party, members na onwide and admirers to congratulate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President-elect, and Alhaji Kashim She ma, the Vice President-elect, on their victory at the February 25, 2023 Presiden al elec on.

“It has been a long and arduous journey, from the Primrose Circle, the Senatorial bid and victory, Jusce Forum/June 12/NADECO struggle, to Sunday Adigun/BATCO gubernatorial struggle and victory, the governorship experience and MANDATE era in Lagos, the resurgence of progressive tendency in Western Nigeria, consolida on of progressive influence in Nigeria and now the Presidency. You deserve every commenda on as we equally give glory to God for His mercy.

“This victory is a call to duty. It is my wish that with this victory comes the consolida on of the eight years of massive infrastructure development and progressive policies of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administra on, deepening of the democra c process, advancement of social democracy, promo on of party discipline and guaranteeing of be er life for all.

“Equally important is the need to ensure that Nigeria meets her historic responsibility to Africans and the Black Race as the leader of both en es.

“I congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari, the leaders and members of our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), other par es that par cipated in the elec on and their candidates, for the keen contest and a successful elec on. I pray that God will give you good health and the wisdom needed for a successful tenure in office.”

At Mosques

OSUN DEFENDER also noted that mosques and Islamic organiza ons also bear the brunt of the cash crunch as the usual fissebilillahi (charity) has noceably reduced in some of the mosques.

At the Daa’rul Rahmat Islamic Society prayer ground, Zone XI area, Owode Ede, where the female Muslim faithful pray every Thursday of the week, the regular dona ons by the worshipers have dras cally reduced as observed by the medium.

OSUN DEFENDER was at the prayer ground yesterday and noted that more than half of the congrega on did not have cash to give out as charity during the prayer session.

It was however gathered that most of the congrega on have resorted to sending their charity to the Islamic society account number.

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, Alhaja Safurat Gbadamosi, a member of the society, said the cash crunch did not affect the number of people coming in for prayer every week.

She however noted that the cash crunch affected the contribu on of people to charitable projects and programmes.

This is just as almost every mosque in Osogbo was being affected by the scarcity of cash as Muslims were no more giving out money for charity at the end of every compulsory prayer.

When asked how much he made daily before the cash crunch, Aliu said he was making between N2000-N3000 before the scarcity of cash begun. He disclosed that he hardly make N200 now.

He said: “The situaon is affec ng us here. You know people give us whatever they have but now that the cash is scarce, they no longer give us money as usual.

“Before the crisis, I used to make between N2000 - N3000 daily, but since this issue came up, I struggled to get N200 in a day.

“I want to appeal to the government to find a las ng solu on to it. If our helpers get money, I know they will remember us”.

Another beggar who iden fied himself as Yunus, urged the authories to consider the poor and those who feed with the li le they got as alms from the people.

Yunus who spoke in Hausa language noted that some of the beggars have already gone back to their villages due to the cash crunch, pleading with the government to make money available.

“As you can see, we are more than this. Some of us went back to our village while some moved to other areas because we are not ge ng money from our helpers like before.

“The government should consider people like us who rely on whatever we get from our helpers to feed our families. It has not been easy at all”, he lamented.