Catholic bishops inform NASS Christian education bill is unconstitutional

The National Council of Christian Education bill was rejected by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria on the grounds that it would have violated sections 10 and 42(3) of the Nigerian Constitution.

The bishops asked the Christian Association of Nigeria, which was the organisation that first pushed for the bill at the National Assembly, to support legislation that would forcefully address, among other things, unprovoked attacks on Christians in the North.

The CBCN’s President, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, and Secretary, Bishop Donatus Ogun, issued a statement rejecting the bill.

The legislation, which aims to create, control, and approve curricula/content at all levels of Christian education, was sponsored by Representatives Rimamde Kwewum, Beni Lar, Yusuf Tajudeen, John Dyegh, Solomon Bob, and Benjamin Mzondu.

The bill included provisions to accredit courses offered by Christian theological institutions as well as to certify teachers of basic and secondary Christian religion education, approve the subject matter of all Christian religion education taught in all schools, and more.

The bill did not provide any exemption for seminaries or other religious institutions owned by the various Christian denominations in the federation, which bothered the Catholic bishops.

On this basis, the bishops asserted that the bill violated their right to instruct and form people in accordance with their own doctrines and cited Section 42 (3) of the 1999 Constitution as support.

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Along with that, they asserted 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.”

The bishops argued that since neither the federal nor state governments have adopted any religion as their official religion and cannot do so, they must respect the legal principles that control how the state and the church interact.

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 group of primarily Pentecostal private school owners and some protestant denominations,” according to the bishops.

They pointed out that the bill’s original intent and conception did not include any regulation of theological issues or any reference to theological institutions.

The bishops revealed that after discussing the idea, CAN decided to move forward with it by asking the lawmakers to support the bill. They claimed that certain elements that were added to the bill at various points were not in the church’s best interests.

The bill is unnecessary and impractical, they continued, “because of our doctrinal differences. Our legal independence in educational matters is being ceded to the government.

Additionally, they tasked CAN with conducting “a proper needs assessment to identify the needs of Nigerian Christians that would necessitate government assistance. It is ineffective to ask the government to create a Council for Christian Education simply because Muslims do.