Paper Title (use style: paper title) http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/EJIF ISSN 2421-2172 1 Waqf: A Contributory Tool for Bridging Infrastructural Deficit in Nigeria Ibrahim Mohammed Lawal Heritage Bank Plc, Maiduguri, Borno State Abstract- This paper seeks to examine waqf as a tool for bridging infrastructural deficit in Nigeria. Infrastructure has always been the bone of contention in Nigeria due to its inadequacies and couple with its role towards economic growth and development. Though, successive administrations have done their part towards resolving the infrastructural gap but it still persists, coupled with an increasing population. However, plans and strategies such as creating rooms for Public Private Partnership (PPP), Sourcing for funds within and outside country etc have been rolled out. Though, some of these steps have further widened the expenditure profile of the government via debt servicing. Despite all this moves it is yet to fill the infrastructure deficit. Thus, this calls for a waqf system, an aspect of Islamic social finance. This paper revealed the various conceptual definition of waqf, its types, permissibility and how is to be managed. However, a government budget constraint function was introduced to analyze how waqf can contribute in bridging infrastructural deficit which was further supported by adopting a modified revenue function via assumption that it only considers the population statistics of Nigerian citizen within the ages of 15- 64yrs, N20 will be contributed per week and 5% level of cash collection error rate will be considered. The study revealed that Nigeria could earned a projected amount of about N1.4b and N5.8b weekly and monthly respectively which will amount to N76b yearly if for instance the cash waqf is adopted. This means that there will be some boast on the government revenue and if such fund is expended on certain components of developmental expenditure, it will go a long way to bridge the infrastructural deficit. The study recommends legislation of act setting up waqf, public awareness should be properly done etc. Keywords-Waqf; Infrastructure; Shariah; Budget function; Population I. INTRODUCTION The role of infrastructure to any economies of the world in driving its growth and development cannot be relegated to the background. Infrastructure is considered as the “Spinal cord to economic growth and development”. This is further supported by the view of World Bank that every 1% of government funds spent on infrastructure leads to an equivalent 1% increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which invariably means that there is a correlation between any meaningful inputs in infrastructure development which reflects on economic growth [5]. According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), over the last decade, Nigeria’s infrastructure spending contributed about 1.9 percent (approximately $4 billion) per annum to nations GDP. More so, in compliance with the recommendation of the Asian Development Bank as per the2 report (2007) that in order for a developing country to sustain growth and development, not less than 6 percent of GDP should be invested on infrastructure. Nigeria has superseded the bench mark but taking into cognizance its population size compare to other African countries [19], its spending is still like a tip of an iceberg, hence the need to do more and that is why in 2016 budget, total expenditure had nearly doubled to ₦6.1 trillion while capital allocation rose to just ₦1.6 trillion, just over 25% of the total compared to 2008 Budget[1]. It is against this background that Nigeria economy is characterized as thus, traffic congestion, power black outs in major cities, bad quality of roads, access to capital and market, inadequate telecommunication services, shortage of drinking, irrigation and industrial water, Even schools are not equipped with basic infrastructure that enhances human capital development [11].However, Nigeria’s infrastructure stock in 2012 stood at 20-25% of GDP which is equivalent of less than $100bn [28], compared to 58% in India and 87% in South Africa. The international benchmark is 70% – doubled our current ratio – and Nigeria has targeted this figure for 2043. Though, based on assessment, the investment requirement across the regions is as thus; North West -$481 billion, North East- $316 billion, North Central -$482 billion, South East -$419 billion and South-South -$585 billion.” [20]. Consequently, a total investment target of $3.0 trillion over a 30 years is required, with 33 per cent (about $1trillion) going to deals in energy, 25 per cent (about $775billion) set aside for Transport, while 14 per cent ($400billion) will go to Agriculture, Water and Mining. Others are 11 per cent (about $350billion) for Housing and Regional Development, ICT will take $325billion (about 11per cent also), a total of 5 per cent ($150billion) is set aside for Social Infrastructure and Vital Registration and Security will take the remaining 2 per cent, representing $50 billion of the total amount at constant 2010 prices[13]. Therefore, this implies that there is a huge gap in the Nigeria’s infrastructure. The nation requires about $14 billion https://www.thebusinesspost.ng/economy/infrastructure-master-planll-raise-nigerias-stock-70-gdp-2043-minister EJIF – European Journal of Islamic Finance No11, December (2018) http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/EJIF ISSN 2421-2172 2 annually to bridge the huge gap in the nation’s public infrastructure out of which $10 billion should come from the federal level and currently the country’s spending on infrastructure is about $6billion which means it requires additional $8billion to meet up the $14billion projected amount [29]. Nevertheless, plans like the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan for example was rolled out whereby $100 billion will be spent each year for the next 30 years to reach this target. In addition, the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund (NIF) was created to focus on domestic investments in selected infrastructure sectors with a 40% allocation of Funds under Management with special emphasis on Agriculture, Healthcare, Real estate, Motorways and Power [30] and the establishment of an infrastructure bank, which is mainly to provide financial solutions to support key long-term infrastructure projects. Furthermore, in its bid to integrate the private sector in bridging the infrastructure gap, the government realises its blue print on its “Economic Recovery & Growth Plan” with emphasis that it would be "leveraging on private sector capital". This may come in a variety of ways; direct investment, concessions, public-private partnerships, investment funds, and other arrangements. Consequently, achieving all these plans & objectives is a function of government revenue but with dwindling global price of crude oil at the international market, the nation’s revenue is grossly affected, taking into play that bulk of the nation revenue is from the oil sector. Therefore, the government is now diversifying the economy to the non-oil sector, and strengthening its tax system so as to boast revenue etc and opening up her financial landscape etc. By broadening the country’s financial landscape, this gradually paves way for the inclusion of Islamic financing into the existing conventional financial system in order to mobilize funds within and outside the country’s corridors. However, Islamic finance can be refer to as the provision of financial services in accordance with the shariah [19]. This form of finance has different components, amongst which is the Islamic social finance. Islamic social finance is made of waqf, zakat etc which are meant for the purpose of mobilizing resources to address the problems of financial exclusion, poverty, unemployment among the vulnerable group of people and provision of infrastructural facilities. Therefore, this study will focus on waqf , an instruments of Islamic social finance and also argue that waqf can be a contributory tool in bridging infrastructural deficit if adopted. In fulfilling this aim, the following objectives are developed. i. To examine the permissibility of waqf amongst Muslims & non-Muslims ii. To explore how waqf can contribute in bridging infrastructural deficit. iii. To examine how waqf can be managed if adopted II. CONCEPTUAL ISSUES A. Infrastructure Infrastructure is a heterogeneous term, comprising of physical structures of several kinds employed by numerous industries as inputs to the production of goods and services. This description includes “economic infrastructure” (such as network utilities) and “social infrastructure” (such as hospitals and schools). The former involves digital communications, water, energy, and transport. They represent the vital ingredients for the success of a modern economy [25] [12]. Investment in Infrastructure consists of capital- intensive projects, which in most countries are largely publicly owned and regulated, and which also provides the backbone of the production and distribution system. They are often regarded as the wheel of economic activity because of the crucial role they play in providing the foundation upon which production and distribution stands (Economic Reflection Vol B. No. 4 April 2008). B. Waqf Waqf is an Arabic word derived from a root verb waqafa. Its plural is awqaf which literally means “hold, confinement or prohibition” [16]. Technically it means “holding certain property and preserving it for the confined benefit of certain philanthropy and prohibiting any use or disposition of it outside that specific objective” [13]. Waqf is called boniyad or Habs (pl.Abhas) in Iran, North and West Africa while it’s been termed as foundations and endowments in Europe and USA [9] [2] [15]. Therefore, we can define Waqf as the dedication of privately owned property (movable eg Cash, shares, cattles, books waqf or immovable, eg Lands, building) and/or its benefit and usufruct in perpetuity for the well-being of the society [14]. It can also be referred as an Islamic endownment of property to be held in trust and used for a charitable or religious purpose [24].There exist four major components that are needed to make up a waqf. These are the founder or waqif, the beneficiaries or mawquf’alaih, the trustees or mutawalli, and the entity of waqf itself or mawquf [10] [32] [15] [2]. Waqf is made up of different kinds. It can either be in form of private or public waqf or Quasi waqf. Subsequently, it can be decomposed as thus; Religious Waqf) -This form of waqf is aimed to assist and satisfy the religious needs of the ummah. It can be land for mosques buildings, mosque maintenance in terms of its operational expense. Philanthropic Waqf-This form of waqf is aimed at supporting the poor or needy, orphans in the society and it can be used in the maintenance of public utilities like water, schools, hospitals etc and Posterity or Family Waqf- In this form waqf the revenue earned must be given to the waqf founder and his or her descendents and only the surplus if any should be given to the poor [16]. Moreso, waqf has certain distinct features such as:-Perpetuity which implies that once a property is decided as waqf so shall it http://www.niimp.gov.ng/?page_id=1059 EJIF – European Journal of Islamic Finance No11, December (2018) http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/EJIF ISSN 2421-2172 3 be. This encompasses other features like permanent, irrevocable, inalienable, certainty etc and the condition specified by the waqf founder must be followed in as far as it does violate shariah. C. Waqf and Its Permissibility Although the Holy Quran does not directly define waqf or make any particular reference to it, however, it encourages Muslim to do charity and donation. Allah has promised multiple rewards for those who generously spend thier wealth in His path[27]. This is supported by the following verses; “They ask you what they should spend.Say: Whatever you spend of good must be for parents and kindred and orphans and al-masakin and the wayfarer and whatever you do of good deeds, truly Allah knows it well (Q2:215)”. Similar verses can also be seen obtained in Q2: 254, 270 and 280. In a similar view, there are hadiths which further supports waqf. Abu Hurairah reported Allah’s messenger as saying: When a man dies, all his acts come to an end, but three: recurring charity, or knowledge (by which people benefit), or a pious offspring, who prays for him” (Muslim, 1992: bab3, hadith 14). However, the concept of waqf is not entirely new to the non- Muslims as well because it has been practiced non-Muslims during the Ottoman period [2][34]. Though, several verses of the bible have stressed the need for charity such as Hebrew 13:16, proverbs 19:17, II Corinthians 9:7 etc. Therefore, based on the submission given, we can explicitly deduce that waqf is permissible for muslims and non muslims. III. WAQF AND BRIDGING INFRASTRUCTURAL DEFICIT Waqf is driven by spirituality, social justice, and personal satisfaction of the donors and its purposely meant to provide key essential services like health, education etc so as to improve the welfare of the people in the society at no cost. This was evidenced during the Ottoman empire in which the waqf was incorporated in its fiscal system to cater for its public expenditures for decades. In addition, the prophet (Pbuh) also used waqf to finance its weaponry in times of war via the fruits from Ochards left by Mukhayriq and well as financing its economy (Siddiqi,1995). This reasons for the background of waqf, formed a cogent fact to justify the argument of bridging infrastructural deficit via waqf. However, existing literatures have also been captured along such lines. Most especially the works of Çizakça (1998), he stressed that economists looking at the waqf system would be perplexed by the fact that a myriad of essential services such as health, education, municipal, etc., have historically been provided at no cost whatsoever to the government. Therefore, ceteris paribus, the waqf system can contribute significantly towards that ultimate goal of so many modern economies as it lead to a massive reduction in government expenditure, which leads to a smaller budget deficit. Consequently, it will turn lowers the need for government borrowing [9]. In fact, waqf can assist modern govern ments to eradicate interest as well as promoting better distribution of income. Çizakça (1998) further stressed that this can be achieved by instructing Islamic Banks to combine cash waqf contributed by investors with mudarabah firms or “joint-stock company shares” To generalize, the manner at which waqf can assist in briding infrastructural deficit is for waqf to support public expenditures or at least part of it [9]. Çizakça (1998) also pointed out that despite the success of the ottoman empire in implementing waqf, there were some shortcoming as there were focused on capital distribution while disregarding capital accumulation which was further confirmed by the works of Balla and Johnson (2009), it was associated with cases of corruption, it was family waqf, therefore liitle was done to provide public goods [3]. Furthermore, waqf in terms of cash can also be a veritable tool whereby citizens can donates voluntarily and such funds is invested in mudarabah deposit, sukuk (Islamic bond), Islamic mutual fund and Islamic compliant stock etc. This can further assist to finance government intervention programmes rather than using taxpayer money, hence there will revenue surplus, which can be used to service debt. Mohamed, Shahida, Abdul and Zaini (2012) hold the same view, which they proposed cash waqf as an alternative to finance Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M). BR1M is a social safety net that is currently implemented in Malaysia. They advocated for a cash waqf fund which is to be invested in mudarabah deposit, sukuk (Islamic bond), Islamic mutual fund and Shari’ah compliant stock, researchers simulated that the Malaysian government can save more than RM13 billion in the period of 30 years. In other words, BR1M can be financed by cash waqf instead of tax revenue or government borrowing thus enabling savings. These savings can be channeled in the provision of infrastructural facilities[26]. Islahi (1992), stated that there is need to internationalize the voluntary institution of awqaf nowadays, by setting up a non- government world Muslim foundation which should provide public goods on large scale and in much more significant fashion than has been the case up till now, to combat illiteracy, sickness and lack of technical know-how [13]. Similarly, Kahf (1998), explain the importance of waqf for socioeconomic development, which is consists of creating and developing a third sector distinct from the profit-motivated private sector and the authority-based public sector, and changing this third sector with the responsibility of performing a group of tasks whose nature make them better achieved. This third sector assigned in education, health and social and environmental welfare. Furthermore, it can provide defense services and public utilities in many instances which will go a long way to discourage borrowings [17]. For instance, Islamic waqf influenced the development of trusts in Western Europe-most notably the establishment of such venerable educational institutions such as the University of Oxford and Merton College, [33]. In Eygpt, the first hospital to adopt medical records which later became the medical EJIF – European Journal of Islamic Finance No11, December (2018) http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/EJIF ISSN 2421-2172 4 school sector of medicine called Al Noorie Hospital in Damascus founded in 1145AD,was built on waqf. Many eminent physicians graduated at the medical center, including Ibn Nafis, a scholar who discovered the theory of the respiratory system in the human lung so also the Al-Azhar University. Other users of waqf revenues include health services which cover construction of hospitals and spending on physicians, apprentices, patients, and medicines. One of the examples of health waqf is the Shishli Children Hospital in Istanbul which was founded in 1898[18]. In addition, more than 8,000 educational institutions and more than 123,000 mosques in Bangladesh are waqf institutions. Also, University in Karachi, Pakistan was financed by a waqf. A large shopping complex in Dhaka is a waqf, providing employment to a large number of people and even financing a publication house, a large auditorium, and a mosque (Sadeq, 2002). IV. APPLICATION OF WAQF TOWARDS BRIDGING INFRASTRUCTURAL DEFICIT Infrastructural development is considered as a component of the nation’s public expenditure. Deducing from the 2017 budget of about N7.44tn revealed a budget deficit of N2.32tn which is to be financed from borrowings out of which N1.254tn and N067tn will be raised from the domestic market and external sources. Debt service amounted to N1.66tn and N2.1tn on capital expenditure [6]. All this is largely dependent on the nation’s revenue and bulk of it is from the oil sector. Though, the government is in a tight situation to fill this infrastructural deficit due to its little resources; thus, all hands must be on deck as government alone cannot fill this gap. However, section II has shown that waqf has the potentials to bridged infrastructural deficit as pointed out by Cizakca (1998), Mohammed et al (2012), Kahf (1998) and Islahi (1992). This further necessitates the need for Nigeria to explore this grey area taking into cognizance that it’s a country with large number of Muslim populations. However, for the purpose of convenience, this section will limit its discussions to the waqf in form of cash. Cash waqf refers “the devotion of an amount of money by a founder and the dedication of its usufruct in perpetuity to the prescript purposes"[22]. Relating the cash waqf model to the Nigeria context with the aim of bridging infrastructural deficit, it consists of three major phases namely: the phase of cash collection rate, the investment phase and the implementation phase. The first phase which is the cash collection rate is considered as the bedrock in which other phases are built upon. This has to do with how long it takes to mobilize these funds. These funds can be traced to the contribution from the general public which is usually voluntary in nature. This can be in physical cash or through other platform like E-waqf funds which is deducted from their bank account or via mobile by sending coded SMS to a designated sever number ordering for deduction from his or her airtime. This is considered as the easiest means for the public to join Waqf scheme. However, a key mitigating factor to the cash collection rate is population. However, available record have shown that Nigeria has a population of about 140M (Census,2006) out of which 49.3% are Muslims, 48.8% are Christians while 1.9% traditional beliefs [31].. However, the main contributor would be from the Muslim faction of the population. The second phase which is the investment phase has to do with investing the said waqf funds. These can be via mudarabah deposit, sukuk (Islamic bond), Islamic mutual funds and shariah compliant stocks. It is very pertinent to note that such funds must be invested in businesses that are shariah compliant. Proceeds from such investment are either plough back or used at the last phase called the implementation phase. At this stage, the funds can be used four key purposes such as education, health, housing, social and community services etc. which are considered key component of government expenditure as demonstrated in the ottoman’s fiscal system. By implication, the idle tax revenue will now be used to finance infrastructural facilities and as such it can assist in bridging the infrastructural deficit. The reason behind this analysis can be further demonstrated mathematically via the Government Budget constraint (Mathias et al, 1999) as thus; Let Tt be the real revenue raised by the government in the period t, let Gt be real government spending in the period t, (Including all transfer payments) and let Bt be the real outstanding stock of government debt at the end of period t,.[23] Therefore if Bt > 0 means that government is a net borrowers in the period t, while Bt < 0 means that the government is a net lender in the period t. There is a real interest rate of rt, that the government must pay on its debt. Assuming, that the government does not alter the money supply, the government budget constraint becomes as thus Gt + rt-1B t-1 = Tt + (Btt – Bt-1) (1) If Eqn 1 is converted into a single, infinite horizon, budget constraint as against period by period budget constraint as in eqn (1) under the assumption that real interest rate is constant, so that rt=r all period t and government does not start with a stock of debt or with any net wealth, so Bt-1=0. The above equation can be re-written as thus; Gt + (1 +r)B t-1 = Tt + Bt (2) The left hand side gives the government expenditure in the period t, it must also service the debt by paying interest (1 +r)B t-1. On the right hand side give tax revenue in the period t, and it can also raise revenue by issuing new debt in the amount of Bt. In other words, government collects revenue Tt and incurs debt Bt to spend on government expenditure Gt and pay previous debt with accrued interest inclusive (1 +r)B t-1. if Gt is increased due to the contribution of waqf fund, more tax EJIF – European Journal of Islamic Finance No11, December (2018) http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/EJIF ISSN 2421-2172 5 revenue will be available to pay debt. And also if Tt is increased via waqf funds, then it will also increase Gt. Therefore in both cases, infrastructure gap can be bridged. In addition, to further buttress the argument on waqf potentials, a projected cash flow is conducted. A simple revenue function (P*Q) is adopted and modified. (i.e Price X Quantity) as thus; T= WA*Pop. Where T: Total cash generated, WA: Waqf amount contributed per individual; Pop: Total Population. Therefore, relating the works of Mohd, et al (2012) to the Nigeria case with a total population of about 140,431,790M out of which 77,158,732 are within the age of 15-64years (Census, 2006), the following assumptions was made: It will consider only population within the age bracket of 15-64 years (77,158,732). Every citizen in respective of religion contributes a minimum of N20 per week.5% level of cash collection error rate (i.e. some remain uncollected, some did not pay in full and some paid above N20 etc) is considered. Use of existing structure and facilities of government and Waqfs are managed by prudent and efficient trustees. TABLE 1. PROJECTED CASH INFLOWS Age Bracket Total Population (Muslims & Non Muslims) Cash Waqf of N20 per week (NGN) Assume if 5% error rate(NGN) 15-64 77,158,732 1,543,174,640 1,466,015,908 Total Cash realised per week 1,543,174,640 1,466,015,908 Total Cash realised per Month 6,172,698,560 5,864,063,632 Total Cash per annum (52wks) 80,245,081,280 76,232,827,216 Source: Authors Computation, (2017)-For Research Purpose Table I, shows the total cash waqf realized if Nigerians within the age bracket (15-64yrs) donate N20 per week. This is to generate about N1,466,015,908 and N5,864,063,632 weekly and monthly respectively while total of N76,232,827,216 will be generated on yearly basis. And, in worst case scenario if only Muslims donates to the cash waqf, then it will be 38,116,413,608 which approximately 50% of 76,232,827,216 based on the available records on Muslim population. It is pertinent to note that the government expenditure is made up of development and operating expenditure. The development expenditure consist of defense and security, economic services (i.e. agriculture and rural development, trade and industry, transport etc), General administration and social services (i.e. Education, Health, Housing etc) where as the operating expenditure is made up of debt service, Emoluments, Asset acquisition, pension and gratuities, grants and transfer, subsidies etc. Therefore, from the projected funds realized, if it can be judiciously expended on just three (3) sectors (Health, Water & Housing) of the economy that constitute a component of the developmental expenditure, it will go a long way to filled certain infrastructural gap. This is presented as thus; TABLE 2. PROJECTED EXPENDITURE(S) SN Sector Location Estimated unit Cost Estimated total Cost 1 Health (PHC) 387 (½ of 774 LGA’s) 29,115,628 *** 11,267,748,175 2 Housing (2Bedroom) 36 States (300 Units) 3,029,400* * 32,717,520,000 3 Water (Boreholes) 59,987 (1/2 of 119,973 polling units) 575,000* 34,492,525,000 Total 78,477,793,175 Source: *Castle (2017 [8]). **Building Contractors Secret (2017) [7]; ***Badeshi (2017).Note: *Cost of Boreholes ranges from N150k- N1,000,000 depending on location(Avg.taken); ***Avg. was taken from the total contract awarded for the construction of PHC across the Country between 2014 and 2015 43]. For Research Purpose. From the table II, it depicts that in its first year of adoption, funds to be realized can be able to build about 387 Primary Health Care (PHC) centers spread across the 774 LGAs across the state with an estimated cost of N11.2b. In the housing sector, part of the funds can also be used to build about 300 housing units across the 36 states of the federation (2-bedroom apartments) at the cost of N32b so also same funds can be used in the provision of about 59,987 boreholes spread across the polling units in the country with a total cost of N34b. if this tempo can be sustain for a period of 10-20years on certain identified sectors, it can go a long way to bridge the infrastructural deficit that exist in the country. V. MANAGEMENT OF WAQF SYSTEM Under this form of proposed waqf system, Nigerians are considered as the waqif or the founder in the waqf model. As waqif, they can choose to waqf for what purposes the funds will be expended for. It can be for agricultural and rural development, trade and industry, transport, public utilities, education, health, housing, social and community services, etc in as far as it constitute government expenditure and its shariah compliant. Waqif can contribute any forms of mawquf that is deemed beneficial and can indeed help finance the Federal Government expenditures. The mawquf is to be managed by both the State and NGO’s. Under the state, it is to constitute the Ministry of Finance, Internal Revenue Board, Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Ministry of Works, Housing, Education, Transport, Health & Water, Debt Management Office and representatives from the various religions. The waqf system should be centrally coordinated with a well decentralized structure at the state and local levels but must be independence from government interference. Though, in some countries like Kenya, Sudan etc there exist waqf act or ministry in favour of EJIF – European Journal of Islamic Finance No11, December (2018) http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/EJIF ISSN 2421-2172 6 waqf that manages the entire waqf system. Other religious organizations like State Islamic religious council (Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic affairs, Christian Association of Nigeria) are to be appointed to support the ministry or dept. However, as trustees or mutawalli, these stakeholders must cooperate to carry out key responsibilities like; creating awareness on waqf and collection waqf contributions, ensuring that the mawqufs are used only for the purposes assigned by the waqif, ensure the protection of the rights for both Muslims and non-Muslims, as beneficiaries or mawquf’alaih and to monitor the investment of mawquf so that the Shari’ah law is conformed [2]. See a flow chart of the waqf management system. Figure 1. Figure I: Flow Chart of Waqf Management System Founder Or Waqif Beneficiaries (Nigeria Citizens) - Investment Waqf Purpose -Mudarabah Investment -Health - Islamic Mutual Fund -Agric & Rural Dev. - Shariah Compliant Stock etc -Trade & Industry -Transport - Education Trustee or Mutawalli -Internal Revenue Board (FIRs/SIRs) -Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) -NGO’s, -Rep from various Religions (NSCIA, CAN) -Ministry of Budget & Planning, Debt Mgt Office (DMO) -Rep from Ministry of Works, Education, Housing, Water, Transport & Health Source: Modified by Author from works of Azniza & Mohamed (2015) -For Research Purpose VI. CONCLUSION Nigeria is considered amongst the popular African countries with a large number of Muslim populations that is yet to adopt the waqf system. This is a system that been practiced since the time of the prophet (Pbuh) and his followers. Thus, it is permissible to muslims and non muslims. Most countries like Malaysia, Kenya, Morocco, Sudan etc that are have adopted it as a tool for financing public expenditure in terms of provision of essential facilities and eradicating of poverty at no cost to the government have enjoyed the benefit. Hence Nigeria should not be an exception. Taking into consideration Nigeria’s infrastructural deficit in virtually all the critical sectors and coupled with the required fund of about USD8bn annually to fill the gap. It depicts a long journey ahead and this has further put the Nigeria Government in critical position because of the shrinking position of the country’s oil revenue due to the dwindling price of oil at the international market. Therefore creates the need to have a second thought as regards adopting it a waqf system. Juxtaposing, the role of waqf to our current infrastructural deficit, it will go a long way to assist in bridging the gap at no cost to the government, thus reducing government borrowing in the long run. Therefore, it is not too late to incorporate it as a fiscal tool by the Nigerian Government as it is an all inclusive package which means “the Founder eats their cake and to some extent still has it”. Hence the need to welcome it by all Nigerians as a fiscal tool that will aid the government in it governance process without religious biasness so that the desired result can be achieved. Based on the foregoing, below are some of the recommendations:-Since waqf is permissible in shariah and it has been practiced by non-muslims in the past, then there is need to intensify effort on public awareness in order to enlightened the Nigerian populace about benefits of waqf via local media like TV, radio in local dialects, magazines, articles etc as this will go along way to address some of the misconceptions about waqf, There is need to have a legal framework such as Waqf Act or creation of a ministry of waqf as this will ensure transparency as its record will be subject to public scrutiny. Establishment of Waqf Advisory Board so as to moderate its financing activities in ensuring that the government expenditure to be financed should not be vague and non shariah compliance.There was case of corruption associated with previous implementation of waqf. In lieu of that there is need to improve the welfare of the staff involved and also train and retrain them on task ahead of them. Taking into play that cash collection rate goes a long way to determine the performance of the waqf system, there is to deploy of IT equipments, portals so as to fasten waqf cash collection rate so easy and convenience. There is need to adopt a mix of financing waqf model so as to take care of the peculiarities that may exist, Training, retraining and organizing development program for officers involved in the entire administration of waqf, Ensure that the waqf officers welfare are properly taken care off so as to avoid them tempering with the revenue generated and Contracts for provision of infrastructural facilities to host communities should be awarded to their indigenes so that the community can know who to look up to incase whether the job is abandoned or done haphazardly. REFERENCES [1] Anselem k (2017).” Investing in Nigeria's Infrastructure” viewed 23 August 2017. < https://www.stearsng.com/article/investing-in-nigerias- infrastructure> [2] Azniza, H A & Mohamed, A H (2015), “The Possible Role of Waqf in Ensuring A Sustainable Malaysian Federal Government Debt” Procedia Economics and Finance. ScienceDirect. (31). 333-345 [3] Babacan M. 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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 460-472. http://www.buildingcontractorssecrets.tk/2017/06/what-would-it-cost-to-build-a-standard-2-bedroom-flat-in-nigeria.html?m=1 http://www.buildingcontractorssecrets.tk/2017/06/what-would-it-cost-to-build-a-standard-2-bedroom-flat-in-nigeria.html?m=1 http://www.castle.com.ng/magazine/article/CONSTRUCTION/67 http://monzer.kahf.com/papers/english/WAQF_A_QUICK_OVERVIEW.pdf http://monzer.kahf.com/papers/english/WAQF_A_QUICK_OVERVIEW.pdf https://guardian.ng/features/focus/bridging-infrastructure-development-gaps-in-nigeria/ https://guardian.ng/features/focus/bridging-infrastructure-development-gaps-in-nigeria/ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waqf http://nsia.com.ng/nigeria-infrastructure-fund/ http://nsia.com.ng/nigeria-infrastructure-fund/ https://www.ywm.gov.my/wakaf/pengenalan EJIF – European Journal of Islamic Finance Editorial Team Editor in Chief Prof. Paolo Pietro Biancone, University of Turin, Italy Editorial Board Prof. Dian Masyita, University of Padjadjaran, Indonesia Prof. Abdulazeem Abozaid, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies – Qatar Prof. Ahmad Aref Almazari, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia Prof. Nidal A. Alsayyed, Inayah Islamic Finance Research Institute, USA Prof. Roberta Aluffi, University of Turin - Italy Prof. Ghassen Bouslama, NEOMA Business School - Campus de Reims, France Prof. Nazam Dzolkarnaini, Salford University, UK Prof. Kabir Hassan, University of New Orleans, USA Prof. Khaled Hussainey, University of Plymouth, UK Prof. Rifki Ismal, University of Indonesia Prof. Tariqullah Khan, Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar Prof. Ali Khorshid, ICMA Centre Reading University - UK Prof. Amir Kia, Utah Valley University, USA Prof. Laurent Marliere, Université Paris-Dauphine France Prof. Federica Miglietta, University of Bari - Italy Prof. Hakim Ben Othman, University of Tunis - Tunisia Prof. Mohamed Ramady, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia Prof. Mamunur Rashid, Nottingham University, Malaysia Prof. Younes Soualhi, International Islamic University Malaysia Prof. Laurent Weill, University of Strasbourg, France