Alhaji Mutiu Bamidele is the Director General of Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation based in Osogbo, Osun State, a Muslim organisation majorly in pursuit of the welfare of orphans and brilliant but indigent students. He speaks with SAHEED SALAWU on the activities of the 15-year-old foundation and shares the story of one of their scholarship students who just graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Ibadan.
How long has the organisation existed for and what informed its establishment?
Insha Allah, by April 2024, our foundation will be 17 years old. The foundation was formed by me and some other individuals who could not secure white-collar jobs after we finished our education. That year, we began to pool resources and help one another financially in turns in terms of trade and business. After a while, we decided to extend our non-interest loans to people outside the circle — artisans, small-scale traders and others. A pepper seller was the first beneficiary of that gesture. In 2010, we organised a free workshop for members of the public on phone repair. The seminar was a first of its kind at the time. We followed that up with workshops on tie and dye, soap making and other skills. Even corps members were part of such workshops which we organised twice in a year. As if the time we were doing all these, our foundation was just one year old.
Our quest to tap from the wealth of experience of accomplished people in the society and expand our horizon has brought us in contact with people like the late Senator Bayo Salami and Alhaji Kayode Afolabi. Not long after, we ventured into caring for orphans and offering scholarships to indigent brilliant students. There is a surveillance committee which discovers the beneficiaries. I must state here that there is no religious discrimination in our programmes; they benefit Muslims and non-Muslims alike. I am delighted to note that some of the beneficiaries of our scholarship scheme are university graduates today. We have undergraduates and fresh students in universities. We have students in the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Ilorin, FUOYE and others. We also have students in public and private secondary schools. It gladdens my heart that in all the educational institutions where these children of ours are, they are taking the front seats there.
From there, we took on the sponsorship of Arabic and Islamic education of indigent children up to the level called thanawi. We have those who are through with their education and those who are still studying. Sometimes, when the foundation is too broke to pay our students’ fees, particularly in this Islamiyya category, we use our goodwill to keep them in school. When we thought we had made headway with this, we moved to people who are interested in learning trades and crafts. We enroll them for apprenticeship and when they are qualified to become independent after three or four years, we assist them to procure tools. We believe that good deeds attract special rewards during the holy month of Ramadan, and this is when we distribute these tools/equipment to the successful learners, be they Muslims or Christians. Our stakeholders spend millions of naira on these tools and equipment which they donate to the beneficiaries through Ar-Rahaman Foundation. The families of Dr Lasisi Olagunju, Alhaji Tajudeen Adisa and the other stakeholders have done this many times.
In December 2016, we established what we call Empowerment Loan Scheme for the benefit of of members of the foundation as well as small-scale business owners. The loan scheme is interest-free. It was extended to people who had already benefitted from the foundation to learn trades and crafts. The terms of the loan scheme includes keeping an amount will the foundation, and the higher the amounts kept, the higher the amounts the beneficiaries will be entitled to take as loans. There are beneficiaries who take hundreds of thousands of naira as loans from Ar-Rahaman Foundation. The repayment of these loans is spread over a period of 24 weeks. The next in our pursuits is the establishment of an Islamic bank.
How do you fund your activities, especially the ones that have to do with scholarships and putting people through learning of trades and crafts?
We get funding for our activities through two programmes which we hold at separate times every year. The first is the one which we hold during Ramadan where we distribute tools and other items to people who have learnt trades and crafts through the foundation. In this case, we invite charitable individuals to support us. Our stakeholders usually host the programme in their respective localities and invite their friends to attend and donate to the cause of the foundation.
The second programme is the one we call the give-back-to-society programme which we hold every January 2. At this programme, we distribute food to the underprivileged, especially widows. The food given to every person at the programme is worth at least two thousand naira. It is through these two programmes that we mainly get funds. To get more funding for our programmes is one of the reasons we are planning to establish an Islamic bank.
Are your foundation’s activities restricted to Osogbo?
No, we have presence in all local government areas of Osun State.
Can you put figures to the numbers of people who have benefitted from the foundation’s various programmes in its 15-year existence?
The number of people who have enjoyed and are enjoying our scholarships in higher institutions is 27. Thirty persons have benefitted at the secondary school level and 23 at primary schools. For the beneficiaries of Arabic and Islamic education, 11 persons have reached the thanawi level where they can be regarded as learned Muslims. From here, they can further their learning on their own. Those who are still learning are 17 in number.
Those who are through with learning trades and crafts and those who are still going through the process are no fewer than 700. Traders and small business owners who have benefitted from our empowerment loan scheme are over 3,000.
One of the beneficiaries of the foundation’s scholarship scheme graduated with First Class honours from the University of Ibadan recently and her achievement was celebrated on social media, especially Facebook. What was the foundation’s reaction to her remarkable feat as her sponsor?
That is Kawthar Oyeniyi, an indigene of Ejigbo. I met her when her mother was struggling to pay for her and her siblings’ education at a certain school owned by an organisation, where they were on the verge of being expelled because of school fees. I removed the kids from the school and enrolled them in another school where Kawthar finished her secondary education. The school is one of the specific schools that assist Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation in what we are doing. They help us, especially in terms of easy and comfortable payment of the children’s school fees. Kawthar was the senior girl before she finished from the school.
Kawthar’s father died long ago and the burden of raising her and her siblings had since fallen on the shoulders of her mother who has no such source of income that could support the family.
Her educational achievement at UI did not come to us as a surprise, given her nature as a dogged and dedicated young lady. She has excelled in the study of Arabic language, Islam and the Qur’an. She is also a skilled fashion designer. It is my hope and prayer that she will excel in her future endeavours.
What challenges do you face as an organisation working to improve the lot of the people in a society that is facing myriads of challenges itself, economic and social-wise?
We are faced with many challenges. For example, as the year is ending, we are not at ease. We provide free meal for 1,000 people every January 2, but as the prices of food items have become prohibitive in the country, how to achieve the programme this year is a cause for concern for us. Also, the prices of tools and equipment which we distribute to our successful apprentices during Ramadan have increased at exponential rates. For instance, a sewing machine which we used to buy for N13,000 when we began our apprenticeship programme now costs at least N95,000. Many of the successful learners that are due to receive equipment have been put on a waiting list. If we had enough assistance and sufficient funds, these people won’t be suffering this kind of delay, and they have nowhere else to go.
Also, as school fees and other charges have been increased, the sponsorship, which is full, of our scholarship students, for both conventional and Arabic education, has become a huge challenge, and we can’t stop caring for these children, especially the orphans among them.
Sometimes we starve in order to provide for these children. About two months ago, I paid the school fees of some orphans. This was a time when I was unable to pay the school fees of my own children. If I was comfortable enough, I had no need to delay the payment for my own kids. However, my own children know that they always have me and that I will always do right by them, a luxury the orphans do not have. And they need not be thrown back into the misery of living without their fathers or both their parents. We see to it that children who enjoy our scholarships don’t lack anything. We never let it show to them whenever we lack funds to easily take care of them.
What do you think the government can do to assist charitable organisations like yours to reach more vulnerable people in the society?
They should see us as partners in ensuring better and qualitative life for the citizenry and accept our activities as an extension of their roles to the governed. As such, government at the federal and state levels should assist us in all ways they can. We also appeal to the wealthy in the society to join our cause. One of the ways wealthy Muslims can assist us is by donating their zakat to us.
What have been your personal gains since you established the foundation?
The first thing I will describe as my personal gain is that I have reached some heights which I never thought I could reach. People I never thought could know me now recognise me. Allah declares that if you bless others, you, too, will be blessed. A lot of doors I never thought could open to me have opened. My work as a music producer is progressing. I enjoy a lot of patronage by virtue of the Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation, and this has contributed so much to the sustenance of the foundation on my part. But my greatest motivation is the saying of the Prophet Muhammad that whoever takes care of orphans will follow him to enter Al-Janah on the Day of Recompense. We came to work on earth; it is in heaven that we will receive the rewards for the work we did. I am not a rich man. I may ride in a car tomorrow, but today, I ride on a motorcycle to move from place to place.
What is your advice for the wealthy in the society and the people who have benefitted and are benefitting from the foundation’s programmes?
My advice first goes to the people who are benefitting from our loan scheme. They should not see the loans as national cake; they must be paying back and promptly, too. This is not a cooperative where people pay development charges or what have you; this is an empowerment loan scheme where you pay back exactly what you took as loan. For the wealthy in the society, I invite them to come to Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation and assist us. I appeal to the wealthy to help to reduce poverty in the land by cultivating the habit of helping others. I also urge people who have had breakthroughs, having passed through our programmes to always look back and help in furthering the cause of the foundation whether we are still alive or not.
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