NGO Files Lawsuit Against FG for Sponsoring Pilgrims

By Ed Malik, A | ed@ddnewsonline.com | posted november 6th, 2024

Prominent non-governmental organization, the Human Rights and Empowerment Project Ltd/Gte (HREP), has stirred public debate and legal action against the federal government of Nigeria (FG), in a suit, arguing that state sponsorship of pilgrimages undermines Nigeria’s secularism and perpetuates inequality.

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The group instituted the action in SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/1872/24 at the Federal High Court against the Federal Government of Nigeria to challenge the propriety of deploying public funds and tax-payers money towards sponsoring Christians and Muslims to attend pilgrimage or Hajj.

The human rights NGO highlights that continued sponsorship of individuals Muslims and Christians on pilgrimages abroad is preferential treatment to adherents of those two religions, to the exclusion and detriment of other citizens who do not share those religious beliefs or affiliations. This practice, the group argues, is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and inconsistent with the secular nature of Nigeria as enshrined in the Constitution.

In its submissions at the Federal High Court, Lagos, through their counsel, Ikenna Okoli, SAN and Francis Moneke, Esq., HREP is seeking a declaration from the court that the continued deployment of public funds for the sponsorship of pilgrimages contravenes section 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution. It is also noteworthy that while Section 10 explicitly prohibits the government of the Federation or of any State from adopting any religion as a State religion, section 42 guarantees freedom from discrimination for all Nigerians without predilection to their religion.

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The said constitutional provision clearly prohibits the government from discriminating against any citizen on the bases of belonging to a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion. The use of public funds to sponsor Nigerians who belong to the Christian or Muslim religion to attend and participate in such spiritual exercise amounts to according special privilege or advantage to adherents of those religions, which are not similarly enjoyed by other Nigerians not belonging to those two religions.

In the fundamental rights enforcement application, the group sued as joint defendants the President, the AGF, the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, and the National Assembly. The group prays the court for a declaration that the allocation of tax payers money by the Federal Government for the maintenance and operation of the Pilgrims and Hajj Commissions is unconstitutional, illegal and ultra vires the powers of the Federal Government. Consequently, the application seeks for the following orders of Court:

Prohibiting government at all levels from using public funds in sponsoring, funding and or subsidizing of any religious.

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Pilgrimages for Christians and Muslims for any category of citizens, including government functionaries.

Prohibiting the Federal Government from further allocating funds to the 1st and 2nd Respondents for any purposes relating to pilgrimages.

Striking down the Acts creating the Pilgrims and Hajj Commissions as being inconsistent with sections 10 and 42 of the 1999 Constitution.

In what legal pundits see as a novel public interest action, HREP laments the humongous and outrageous quantum of public funds that governments at all level had sunk into sponsoring or subsizing of pilgrimages and Hajj in a country that is constitutionally a circular state, wherein adoption of any particular religion as state religion is constitutionally prohibited at Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution which provides that “the Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State religion.”

The NGO is also praying the court to order the Federal Government to cease all sponsorship, financial aid, or support for religious pilgrimages, arguing that such funds should instead be redirected toward critical sectors.

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If the court rules in favor of HREP, the decision could have far-reaching implications for government policies on religion and the allocation of public resources. It could also set a precedent for future cases challenging the state’s involvement in religious affairs, reinforcing the constitutional principle of secularism in Nigeria.