An Islamic cleric, Musa Bello, has advised workers in Kogi to always make alternative financial provision while in service to avoid the consequences of non payment of their salaries.
He gave the advice on Friday while preaching to Muslims who turned out to observe the special prayer commemorating the Eid-el-Fitr at the Gadumo praying ground in Lokoja.
Mr Bello noted that many of the state’s workers who claimed that their salaries had not been paid for months had tough time coping with the reality of their situation because they failed to save for the rainy day.
“As a worker, begin to save part of your salary so that if your salary is no longer forthcoming as and when due, you can fall back on something,” he said.
Mr Bello also called on the workers not to rely on their civil service job alone but venture into other profitable vocations such as farming to augment their salaries.
The Islamic scholar further called on Muslim workers in the state to be close to Allah, saying only Him has the permanent solution to their problems.
He also called on them to allow the lessons of the Ramadan to permeate their lives and in their relationship with other members of the society irrespective of their affiliations.
The cleric counselled Muslims to eschew immorality and toe the path of moral rectitude to seek the favour of Allah on the Day of Judgment.
He described fasting as not just one of the five pillars of Islam but also a lesson to rich Muslims to enable them feel the pangs of hunger and motivate them to assist the needy.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that many Muslims clad in new attire turned up for the two Rakaat prayer and were seen exchanging pleasantries at the end of the religious exercise.
(NAN)
