Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has hailed the Chief Imam of Lagos State Sheikh Sulaimon Oluwatoyin Abou-Nolla for launching a directory for imams and mosques.
Sanwo-Olu spoke during the unveiling of the book at the Lagos Central Mosque, Idumota.
Represented by the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, he said the directory would made it easier for the government to get across to imams.
He hailed the religious institution for partnering the state on peaceful co-existence and religious harmony.
This, he said, had translated to development and progress.
“I assured commitment to the partnership and the government readiness to work with religious body in achieving progress,” he said.
Mrs Akinbile-Yusuf, however, said the state government was working on a portal to include all religious houses, bodies and leaders in the state.
“If we don’t have data it will be very difficult for us to execute so many projects. There is nothing the government can do if they don’t have data,” she said.
She appealed to the imams not yet captured in the directory to ensure they were captured, saying “whatever programme we want to offer to Muslims, majority will come through the directory.
“If you are not included in the directory, it means you are not in Lagos State. Let’s endeavour to be listed in the directory so that it will be easier for the government to know the exact Muslim clerics to meet.”
Sheikh Abou-Nolla said the directory was to unite Muslims in the state.
He said: “It is a framework to facilitate quality initiative, higher quality information management and the desire to approach matters concerning Muslims within Lagos State better.
“The way the directive is being designed will serve so many purposes in projecting …Islam in the country. It will also assist in getting to know the right spiritual fathers, imams, ratibi imams, their contacts at the state as well as local government level whenever the need arises.”
He urged the government to assist in working with the details contained in the directive.