The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria {CBCN}, has kicked against a bill seeking to establish National Council of Christian Education, adding that the proposed bill violates sections 10 and 42(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
The bishops insisted that rather than promoting a bill that violated the secular character of Nigeria, the Christian Association of Nigeria {CAN}, which originally pushed for the bill at the National Assembly, should promote legislations that address unprovoked attacks on Christians in the North, among others.
The CBCN President, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji and Secretary, Bishop Donatus Ogun, disclosed that different parts of the bill contravened the country’s ground norm.
The bill, which seeks to develop, regulate and approve syllabuses/contents at all levels of Christian education, was sponsored by Rimamde Kwewum, Beni Lar, Yusuf Ayo Tajudeen, John Dyegh, Solomon Bob and Benjamin Mzondu.
The bill was also designed to certify Christian religion education instructors at basic and secondary levels; approve the content of all Christian Religion Education in all schools and accredit programmes of Christian theological institutions.
The bishops, however, lamented that the bill made no exemption for seminaries and other religious institutes owned by the various Christian denominations across the federation.
They also claimed that the bill “is incompatible with the secular character of the Nigerian State as enshrined in Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“In as much as the governments at the federal or state level, has not and cannot adopt any religion as its official religion, it must respect the juridical principles that govern the relationship between the State and the Church,” the bishops noted.
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They also explained that the idea of pursuing a bill “to regulate religious studies in secular schools came up during the education summit organised in 2019 by the Association of Christian Schools in Nigeria, a body of mostly pentecostal private school owners and some protestant denominations.”
They further observed that the bill was neither intended to regulate theological concerns nor to have anything to do with theological institutions as originally intended and conceived.
After discussing the idea, the bishops disclosed that CAN decided to pursue it by asking the lawmakers to sponsor the bill, alleging that some elements were added to the bill at some points, which certainly are not in the interest of the Church.
They further said the bill “is unnecessary and impracticable because of our doctrinal differences. Our juridical autonomy in matters of education is being surrendered to the government.”
The bishops also challenged CAN to undertake “a proper needs assessment to determine the needs of Christians in Nigeria that would require the support of the government. Asking the government to establish a Council for Christian Education simply because Muslims have one is counterproductive”.