Sharia Information and Documentation Project (SIDOP)

SIDOP BULLETIN No. 1, July 2003

Zakkat Policy in Jigawa State

[Extracted from a Study on Poverty Knowledge and Policy conducted by dRPC in Jigawa State in collaboration with the Participatory Group, IDS, University of Sussex in 2002. The full text of the research is available at IDS and a chapter length article is in process of publication by the principal investigators - dRPC Coordinators]

In Jigawa the response of the state government and traditional rulers to the clamour for Sharia, which swept through the North of Nigeria after its launching in Zamfara State in 1999 was to enact a Zakkat law. In a deliberate and conscious effort to depart from trend of emphasizing punishment in Shari'a, the Emirate leaders particularly those of Dutse, convinced the State Government to emphasise the welfare aspect of Sharia by implementing the obligatory Charity Tax in Islam - the Zakkat.The tax is one of the five pillars of Islam and was provided for in the Qur'an (2:177) as a means of guaranteeing social rights and security. Jigawa State Law No. 13 of 2000 established Zakkat Committees in Jigawa State to implement the Zakkat. The law states that:

There is hereby established in each Emirate of the State a committee to be known as Emirate Zakkat Committee each of which shall be a body corporate with power to sue and be sued in its corporate name.

The Committee shall consist of:
- The Emir who shall be the Chairman and the Chief Imam of the Emirate headquarters as well as the Chief Imam of all the Local Government Headquarters of the Emirate, plus 5 other persons of unquestionable character to be appointed by the Emirate;
- All Local Government Chairmen of the Emirate, all Commissioners and Special Advisers of the Emirate.

The Committee shall be responsible for: -

- Identification of eligible persons
- Assessment of the amount of Zakkat payable by Eligible persons
- Collection of Zakkat from Eligible persons; and distribution of Zakkat to beneficiaries in the Emirate of the State in accordance with Islamic injunctions".

(Jigawa State Law No. 13 of 2000:1-2)

Following the legislation, five semi-autonomous Zakkat Committees were established in Jigawa corresponding to the 5 Emirates of the State. The State government gave each one of them a take-off grant to begin activities. By encouraging the Emirate Councils to take charge of the Zakkat collection and distribution, the State government appears to be responding to the constitutional ambiguities presented by a secular government collecting and distributing Zakkat. Over the past two years the Zakkat committees have established a distinct indigenous poverty alleviation response that exists side by side with the NAPEP and other with global programs on poverty reduction. The main actors are traditional titleholders and religious leaders. The state and local government officials sited in the law have not been active.

Perceptions of Poverty by the Zakkat Committees

The underlying perception of poverty by the Zakkat Committees in the 3 Emirates studied (Dutse, Hadejia & Kazaure) is that of a transitory state of extreme privation. This perception is informed by a particular poverty discourse within Islam, which holds that while poverty may not be entirely eradicated it can be alleviated through purposeful actions as specified by Islamic tenets and guidelines. Because the condition of the poor, (the 'Faqir' and the 'Miskin') is seen as harsh, Muslims who are financially endowed are obligated to contribute 2.5% of their annual net-worth towards the alleviation of poverty of those below the Islamic poverty line - the Nisab.

The knowledge base of Zakkat is well known and has little variation. The four main schools of Islamic Jurisprudence are agreed on the basic tenets that inform Zakkat. They clearly define who should give Zakkat and which wealth is 'taxable' as Zakkat. For example, such wealth should have been held for a year. It should not be encumbered by debt and should be in excess of basic needs. The wealth eligible to Zakkat deductions must be at or above the Nisab - the minimum amount of property liable to payment of Zakkat. During the field research, the research team found that the general perception of community members and associations is that the Zakkat Committees of the 3 Emirates under study have been effective in targeting the poor and alleviating poverty through their various strategies of providing cash, clothing, goods and other forms of social support.

Of the 3 Emirates studied in this research, the activities of the Dutse Zakkat Committee have been found to attract the greatest recognition by Emirate and community level actors interviewed. These actors included civil society associations, traditional titleholders and religious leaders. Respondents from all 3 Emirates were especially pleased that the Dutse Committee used what were perceived as objective and legitimate screening methods, by working through traditional titleholders in order to conduct a census of the poor and the wealthy in communities. They were also pleased that the Committee seemed to be guided by Islamic injunctions on transparency and accountability in its actions and decisions. Some of the other committees had more modest achievements.

The Implementation of Zakkat Policy in Jigawa

The tenets of Islam are very clear on the beneficiaries of Zakkat. These include the very poor (Faqir) who have no means of livelihood beyond day to day and the needy (Miskin) including the physically impaired who have not got a year's food secured. Other beneficiaries include the heavily indebted, new Islamic Converts, Zakkat Collectors and the distressed traveller that has run out of resources.

The activities of the actors in this space are assessment, collection and distribution. For both the collection and the distribution of Zakkat there is reliance on traditional census in the community to collect data that will identify beneficiaries and contributors. The table below shows one example of such census carried out by the most organized of the Zakkat Committees. The enumerators here are not the usual trained professionals; rather they were neighborhood leaders, ward and village heads and district heads. They move in a troupe from house to house with some support from scribes whom may be local teachers or local civil servants.

Table 1: Number and Type of Zakkat Beneficiaries

Source: Dutse Emirate Zakkat Committee Annual Report 2000

By all accounts, the outcome of the Zakkat policy in Jigawa State was regarded as successful. In Dutse Emirate, data reveals that 93% of those identified in the beneficiaries' census as being in Extreme Poverty were reached by the Zakkat project in its first year. However, only 36% of those identified as needy were reached. Thus Dutse seems to be a case of best practice (see table below). In Kazaure and Hadejia Emirates where solid data did not exist, interviews and FGDs in Kazaure suggest a case of next best practice while the Hadejia Zakkat project has fallen much behind the others. With the limited information from the Kazaure Zakkat project it can be discerned that five million eight hundred and twenty five thousand Naira (N5,825,000=) was distributed as Zakkat between the months of June and August 2000. The collection was less impressive. Evidence suggests that collection of grains took place in only five of the nine districts of Kazaure Emirate.

Table 2: Dutse Emirate: Number and Type of Zakkat Beneficiaries

The experience of the case of best practices suggest that success is attributable to certain pertinent factors, which include:

1. Transparency in policy implementation
2. Information based policy design
3. A system of Incentives to perform
4. Strategies to overcome anticipated obstacles
5. Non-partisan political approach

Transparency derives from the fact that Zakkat is distributed in public. The process is as follows: At publicised open meetings in the communities in which Zakkat was collected, the names of all contributors are read out. The beneficiaries are given the Zakkat at the same meeting in full public view. The rule is that Zakkat should be distributed in the communities in which it was collected, except when it is necessary to balance off surplus in one part and shortage in another. Two members of the Dutse Zakkat committee informed the research team that there was substantial reluctance to give Zakkat at first as contributors felt that their wealth was going to be siphoned off to the state capital to be distributed to the rich. They therefore wanted to continue to give their contribution to whom ever they chose privately. The system of open distribution changed all that as members of the community openly questioned why some names were not mentioned when they eligible to pay Zakkat. The givers also wanted the public recognition for making their social contributions so open distribution was further supported.

The design of the Zakkat project was preceded by collection of basic information needed for setting targets, identifying type of beneficiaries and estimating contributions. This is the type of information that is basic for Zakkat implementation. In addition, information on anticipated obstacles were compiled and strategies developed to overcome them. For example, it was anticipated that since the Ulamas were the ones getting all the Zakkat to distribute before and were not doing so effectively, their support for the new system might be difficult to gain. An advocacy plan was therefore developed to win their support, and with the open community-based approach, the Zakkat Committees negotiated the Ulamas.. In the words of the chairman of the Dutse Emirate Committee "When we conducted a census of poor people in the Emirate we discovered that in the past the Zakkat does not go directly to the very needy in the society but rather to the Ulama (Islamic scholars/teachers) who will be expected to give to the needy. The Committee therefore devised a strategy of first addressing the interests of Ulama by providing them some of what they will loose by not beingrecipients of Zakkat and also by making some of them members of the committee. The strategy worked in that the Ulamas cooperated with the new system". (Interview with the Emir of Dutse, Alhaji Nuhu Muhammad Sanusi, October 2001). This approach succeeded in even getting the support of the Ulamas as some of them were also legitimate Zakkat beneficiaries.

A system of incentives was also built into the Zakkat project. The public mention of contributors was incentive to them to give. Indeed, during interviews mention was made of contributors who had privately given before because they were suspicious of the new Zakkat project but who gave again publicly because they were now happy with the openness of the new system. Generous prices were also set as incentives to best collecting district village and ward heads. The voluntary workers on the project were also given allowances to take care of their expenses. Thus everyone had an incentive to work for the implementation of the policy.

Finally, the apparent non-political nature of the Zakkat system coupled the promise of heavenly reward created a situation whereby many of the actors felt that they were engaged in a process that was both virtuous and honourable. These factors combine to make this social policy different from the others and probably the most successful of the social policies in Jigawa state.

Despite the success of some Zakkat committees their work is nonetheless deficient in many ways. For example, in being able to use information to set clear performance targets and standards and in being able to develop rational distribution systems. While many ordinary citizens commended the Zakkat Committee for `trying,' others were quick to observe its limitations. For others who recognized the potential contribution of the Zakkat Committee in poverty reductions in Jigawa State there were still thorny issues of how to improve its effectiveness and impact. As long as the government leaves it to non-governmental actors to play the leading role in Zakkat, the thorny issue of constitutionality of the secular government's involvement would have been reduced to encouragement. Importantly, communities may also withdraw their support if government becomes central given that they have little faith in the objectivity of government institutions.

Because there is no attempt to address issues of the root causes of poverty and unjust distribution of wealth in society, redistribution from those who have to those without, is handled in win-win terms devoid of class antagonisms. The challenge for poverty reduction in this state is to go beyond charity to sustainable poverty reduction given the enormous potential for resource mobilization and popular acceptance of the Zakkat system.

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