ADEQUACY AND JUST COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ZAKAHAS A STRATEGY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH IN LAFIA

The aim of this paper is to address the inadequacy of Zakah distribution among the Muslims of Lafia, Nasarawa State Zakah as one of the pillar of Islam its ultimate objective is redistribution of income among the poor within the community in order to alleviate the financial difficulty experienced by people in the society. However, inadequate and unjust distribution of Zakah by the wealthy people has weaken the institution and narrow its prosperity, its essence is to boost economic growth if properly implemented and to cater for the welfare of common citizens. The researcher adopted the use of library materials; with the Qur’an and Hadith serving as the primary sources, interview was also conducted. The findings of this research show that eligible persons whose money reaches nisab (the prescribed amount) when they have set aside the percentage for Zakah, instead of giving the reasonable amount to the people so as to benefit but they rather split and splash the money and distribute one thousand naira only (W1,000) or two thousand naira only ($42, 000) to a large number of the beneficiaries, which has defeated the aim, the meagre amount given may not enable the recipients to establish the business. It is recommended that a reasonable amount should be shared to the people annually, perhaps the beneficiaries can use the money to start a business that can contribute to economic growth, finally, there should be a strong and functioning committee under Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Jama'atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatis- Sunnah (JIBWIS), Fityanul-Islam, Voice of Islam (VOI) etc. who can persuade the wealthy Muslims towards giving the Zakah.