- Bill to regulate Christianity in Nigeria is fake, malicious – CAN
- To give powers of appointing Council officers to FG is suicidal –Bishop Badejo
- Regulating the curriculum of Christian education is unrealistic, impractical – Bishop Hammawa
- Creating curriculum for Christian religion is inconsequential to the Catholic Church – Adekoya
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has described media reports on a bill seeking to create a National Centre for Christian Education to regulate and set standards for the practice of Christianity in Nigeria as “fake news,” “mischievous” and “malicious.” The CAN insisted, it is promoting a bill in the National Assembly solely aimed at creating a National Council for Christian Education. Reacting to the story making the rounds recently, Rev. Ozumba Emmanuel Nicodemus, CAN National Director, Education, Youth and Women Development, in a statement said the report that the bill seeks to regulate Christianity or censor Christian preaching and preachers was totally mischievous and maliciously spewed to cause disaffection between CAN, the sponsors of the bill and the Christian community in Nigeria, and ultimately scuttle their noble agenda to have a voice on matters that concern their faith and calling. The Statement reads in parts, “Our attention has been drawn to a fake news report on many online and print media platforms tagged “a bill to regulate Christianity in Nigeria; and we wish to state that this is not true. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is promoting a bill at the National Assembly for the establishment of National Council for Christian Education which is co-sponsored by our beloved Christian legislators.
“The aim of the bill is to establish a regulatory council for Christian education that will oversee Christian curriculum development and monitor what children are being taught in secular schools. “It is our token contribution to preserve the sanctity of our faith and the innocence of our children. “Similarly, many theological schools in the country are sub-standard and their certificates are not recognised beyond the institutions that awarded them, yet they abound everywhere. This bill will harmonise their operations and set minimum standard that must be met before awarding certificates to their graduands. “This bill, when passed, will formalise Christian education as a course of study in our tertiary institutions and accord recognition and validity to the certificates gotten from our Bible and theological schools and other Christian institutions in the country.” Many stakeholders saw the press release as “doing things in the wrong order”. They hold a popular view of gazetting the bill prior to the reading at the National Assembly. According to this school of thought, the third stage of processing a bill is the gazetting of the bill where the legislature gives public notice that a new piece of bill is being considered and to give members of the public and relevant stakeholders the opportunity to weigh in on the debate and make their representations either in favour of the proposed law or against it.’ Most Rev. Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo, Catholic Bishop of Oyo Diocese, in an exclusive chat with The Catholic Herald Weekly newspaper, observed that the concerns raised in the press release are “legitimate and noble” as he also regretted that the information on the bill via the press release should have been issued before the presentation of the proposed law.
He said, “To all intents and purposes the concerns expressed in this press release are noble and legitimate. However, this kind of information/release should have been widely circulated long before the bill itself got presented, because knowing our environment, megalomaniacs who would surely try to derail the good intentions of such an important bill would need to be pre-empted. “Lack of that has already permitted a muddling of the waters. I have read the bill at least partly and I am personally worried about the clauses which seem to give the powers of appointing/approving the officers of this council to the Federal Government. That, if I read correctly, would be suicidal, to say the least and will not get much traction.” The co-sponsors of the bill in the House of Representatives are Hon. Shawulu Kwenmwun (Sponsor), Hon. Beni Lar, Hon. Yusuf Ayo Tajudeen, Hon. John Dyegh, Hon. Solomon Bob and Hon. Benjamin Mzondu. While at the Upper Chambers, the Christian legislators include Binos Yaroe (Sponsor), Senator I.D Gyang (Co-sponsor), Senator Abba Muro, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, Senator Lilian Ekwunife and Senator Abba Moro. Rev. Nicodemus urged all Christians to unite and support this Bill till it becomes an Act. He added, “The Bill has gone through second reading, hoping to be called for public hearing soon. We wish to encourage Christian leaders to prepare their memos in support of the Bill and be ready to present them when called upon to do so. We must be ready to defend what we believe is good for the body of Christ in Nigeria.”
Since the bill for establishment of a National Centre for Christian Education passed the second reading at the Senate penultimate Friday, the bill has elicited negative responses. The bill has met stiff opposition and a great deal of controversy and suspicion. The major concerns raised centred on three matters amid a host of issues and factors: passing the bill before gazetting of the bill, creation of a curriculum for Christian education in a country of diverse denomination of Christians and their respective dynamics coupled with according power of appointing the officers of the Council to the Federal Government. The Catholic community has particularly described the creation of curriculum for Christian education as ridiculous and inappropriate. Most Rev. Badejo termed the move as ‘ridiculous’. He said, “Well, there is already a board or a group set up, producing the curriculum for schools in Nigeria, and it is already quite contentious. Speaking from the point of view of the Catholic Church, there has been some lack of fair-handedness in forcing certain things on Catholic schools that actually go contrary to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. And that has been a point of contention between the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Federal Ministry of Education which is yet to be completely resolved. “So, for the establishment of another body that will now produce or regulate the curriculum, I find it really ridiculous because Christianity as we know like other religions in Nigeria, the different denominations of Christianity don’t think exactly the same way, don’t believe exactly the same thing. “And if there is any of the denomination so to speak, that should be given preferential treatment, recognition; it should be the Catholic Church.
And all the other Churches so to speak, broke away from the Catholic Church. So, if you talk about the originality of doctrine and teaching and practice, it resides in the Catholic Church. “But because of the religion and the belief and the views and doctrines and Churches of those who are in this board, sometimes, they are not fully aware or they are not fully informed about the nuances between the teachings from one Church to the other. “So, talking about the curriculum, it certainly should not be the concern of government, and therefore, this bill for me really, it does not make much sense at all.” Most Rev. Charles Hammawa, Bishop of Jalingo said regulating the curriculum of Christian education is unrealistic and impractical. Noting that the concept of the bill is good, he advised that the bill should be directed towards promoting and protecting Christianity as a religion considering the recent experiences in the country. The prelate remarked, “All theological institutions and schools have their different denominations. That I think is the issue at stake; that I think is going too far because obviously, there is no way that the council of that nature even if it is approved by the federal government, can regulate the curriculum of the major seminary of the Catholic Church or any theological institute like that because our orientation, our thought is completely different.
Noting any person, any religion or any Christian denomination because we have a particular trend that we adopt. So, to have a body like that that does not know anything about that and is regulating them, that will be wrong.” Bishop Hammawa noted that such a council must necessarily consult with the appropriate authorities in each denomination, not only the Catholic Church alone, and ensure that the authorities in a given faith, approve that syllabus, then they can go ahead and approve it. But if it is to be approved by the council, which is where I think there will be a problem. He further stated, “But together and collectively, we Christians should be able to fight for the position of Christianity as a religion which we must all protect because we know there are different bills funded by the federal government as long as Christianity is concerned, but it’s not happening with Christianity. “So, the first thing is that such a bill should be established by and for Christians, then, following on from there, we Christians must set an eye on that bill just to say the council can only be given the opportunity in consultation with particular Churches once they have approved the curriculum, then they can go ahead and do it, but if not, you will be interfering too much in our theological institutions, in seminaries and other large institutions that are run by us, even to enable us sometimes catechetical institutions that we run for our catechists of our minor seminaries. So, that will be counterproductive if we allow that section of that bill to pull through.” On appointing or approving officers of the council, Bishop Hammawa said the president cannot just sit with his executive council and appoint people.
In his words, “He must consult the Churches concerned, even if it’s through CAN, otherwise they can be appointing people there that don’t know what Christianity is all about. They may bear the Christian names, Students at a prayer session in school Students in IT class. but they won’t be able to see the lines in between certain things at all, and worst of all if he appoints people into that council who are non-Christians. So, even that powers given to the president to appoint its principal officers, I think it should be looked into.” In same vein, Sir Thomas Folu Adekoya, KSJI, immediate past National President of the National Laity Council said the creation of curriculum for Christian religion is inconsequential to the Catholic Church as well as its counterparts like the Anglican, Methodist and a host of other orthodox Churches. Hear him, “With the Catholic faith, the curriculum I don’t believe, and I don’t think will have any effect on us, affecting the mode of training of our priests in the seminary because the training in seminary of the Catholic priest in the making is so much different from what we are having around with these opportunist priests or pastors who later make themselves bishops and be preaching something which is out of the Bible. years with all other things that we do, even the practical before the priests are ordained to go and obtain more knowledge.
So, the curriculum in my own view will not affect us, and am sure they will never dabble into something that is obtainable internationally because the way the Catholic priest is being trained in Nigeria is also the same way the Catholic priests are being trained in every part of the world, either in Italy, Holland or Germany, priests are trained the same way. The number of years they use in the seminary to acquire the knowledge they would be using in dispatching their pastoral work at their parishes when they are finally being ordained. “Also, the curriculum we will also see that it entrenched these new generation Churches that are springing up everywhere because after some few months that they go to the Bible College or wherever they have attained their experience and certificates, in no distant time, they just be creating churches. So, the effect of this is two-coined, but I am of the greatest opinion and my view is that they should not dabble into the way the Catholic priests are being trained.
