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Leo Igwe

Recently President Musa Yar ‘Adua said he would give serious consideration to adopting compulsory religious education in schools. He stated this when a delegation of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111 including the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Mohammed El Kanemi and representatives of the Emirs of Kano, Katsina, Zaria and the Secretary General of the Council Lateef Adegbite paid him a courtesy visit at the state house. The idea of making religious education compulsory was actually proposed by the Sultan who said it would facilitate “moral regeneration’ in the country and enhance the fight against corruption.
In this piece, I will state why I think this proposal is unhealthy and potentially dangerous for Nigeria . I will also outline briefly what I think is the way out in terms of tackling the moral decay in the society.

Personally, I see no reason why religious instruction should be made mandatory (more…)