NewStats: 3,263,147 , 8,179,254 topics. Date: Wednesday, 04 June 2025 at 08:28 PM 3d2r4p

Nigerian Government Urged To Abolish Arabic, Islamic Qualifications Being Equated With WAEC, NECO Certificates

A religious advocacy organisation, The National Prayer Altar, has issued a scathing petition against the Nigerian government’s recognition of certificates issued by the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) as equivalent to WAEC, NECO, and NBTE qualifications for entry into Nigeria’s secular tertiary institutions.Nigerian fashion

In a statement dated May 14, 2025, and addressed to top education regulators including the Minister of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the t issions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the organisation demanded the immediate revocation of the policy, warning that it could erode Nigeria’s secular educational framework and ignite dangerous religious and ethnic divisions.

Describing the policy as “a structural breach of Nigeria’s policy secularity,” the group insisted that the Federal Government had “taken a step that functionally violates constitutional neutrality” by promoting a religious-based certification system into the mainstream education system.Nigerian fashion

“This policy decision does not merely flirt with constitutional boundaries, it crosses them,” the petition read.

“It introduces a theological asymmetry into a national education system that is, by law and by design, intended to be secular, merit-based, and religiously agnostic.”

According to the group, the elevation of NBAIS certifications, especially those related to Tahfeez and SAISSCE, to the same level as WAEC and NECO amounts to privileging one religion while systematically excluding others.

“No federal education board exists for Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Tiv, Ijaw, or Christian Biblical Studies,” the statement noted.

“This action violates the constitutional mandate of religious neutrality under Section 10 and directly undermines the Federal Character principle under Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution.”

The National Prayer Altar also raised the alarm over what it described as the lack of transparent curriculum moderation, legislative backing, or inter-agencovery consensus on NBAIS’s new certification status.

“To date, there is no publicly accessible Act of the National Assembly, Executive Order, or inter-agency communiqué that explicitly confirms NBAIS’s elevation to the status of a general certifying body,” the group said.

"Legitimacy in a federal education system is not conferred by silence, speculation, or stealth.”

It further warned that the policy could “invite a wave of lawful demands from other religious and cultural groups for federal equivalence, resulting in a proliferation of fragmented certification boards, ideologically divergent syllabuses, and policy incoherence.”

Calling the policy “a strategic distortion of Nigeria’s secular, merit-based education framework,” the group declared that their petition was not a call for reform but a demand for total reversal.

“This is not a call for review or reform. It is a call for total reversal,” the group stated. “The NBAIS equivalence policy must be abolished in its entirety. The future of Nigeria’s children, its institutions, and its democratic integrity depends on it.”

Among their demands, the group is calling for the immediate abolition of NBAIS certificate equivalence; aformal declaration by the Presidency and National Assembly reaffirming that only WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, and NBTE-approved bodies shall be accepted for general academic progression; That no cultural or religious certification be granted national status or equivalence without a universal and secular framework available to all traditions under identical .

The petition was signed by over 100 religious and academic leaders from across Nigeria and the diaspora, including Professor Kontein Trinya, Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, and Professor Olanrewaju Awotona, among others.

SaharaReporters

Nawahoo I never knew of this sh*t happening. This is so pathetic of our country.

This is the décor of the quota system.

They'll argue with religion, play victim card, as if those using WAEC, NECO ..., don't have God.

To fix this country, these are issues we should seriously tackle.

Let's breed merit, equity and competence.

Otilor

OLAADEGBU:


According to the group, the elevation of NBAIS certifications, especially those related to Tahfeez and SAISSCE, to the same level as WAEC and NECO amounts to privileging one religion while systematically excluding others.

Nobody use NBAIS to study secular course except Arabic and Islamic Course.

I don't know why Christians always have headache over things that have nothing to do with them.!

So many Christians theological schools are d to Nigerian Universities,have you ever seen Muslims crying foul.Some don't even require SCCE or whatever to enter

Several theological schools in Nigeria are d with Nigerian universities.

These include institutions like the ECWA Theological Seminary Igbaja, Baptist College of Theology, and the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary.

Many of these schools offer programs leading to undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in theology.

Additionally, schools like the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Theological Seminary and the SS Peter and Paul Seminary have affiliations with Nigerian universities.
Here's a more detailed list:


d Theological Schools:
ECWA Theological Seminary Igbaja: d with several universities, including the University of Ibadan.


Baptist College of Theology: d with Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma.


Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary: d with the University of Ibadan and the University of Ilorin.


Theological College of Northern Nigeria: d with the University of Jos.


WATS: d with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Bigard Memorial Seminary: d with the University of Ibadan.


Archbishop Vining College of Theology: d with the University of Ibadan.


Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Theological Seminary: d with the University of Ibadan.


UMCATC: d with the University of Ibadan and the University of Ilorin.


SS Peter and Paul Seminary: d with the University of Ibadan.


Immanuel College of Theology and Christian

Education: d with the University of Ibadan.


Dominican Institute: d with the University of Ibadan.


Life Theological Seminary: d with the University of Ibadan.


Redeemed Christian Bible College: d with the University of Ibadan

hafeeanubasy:

Nobody use NBAIS to study secular course except Arabic and Islamic Course.

I don't know why Christians always have headache over things that have nothing to do with them.!

And if you talk of Friday as work free day .....

citizenY:


And if you talk of Friday as work free day .....

You want to ISLAMIZE an already CHRITIANIZED country be that 😆

That go be as it get

hafeeanubasy:

Nobody use NBAIS to study secular course except Arabic and Islamic Course.

I don't know why Christians always have headache over things that have nothing to do with them.!

Is it a fact, or is it just how you feel it should be?

Long overdue

Those lazy north want substitute or equivalent for everything

E.g Ican vs Anan

This people sha

How can such even happen

I didn't know when black people started to accept another backward Arab ideology that leads only to terrorism and backwardness

haha

Can't believe this

hafeeanubasy:

Nobody use NBAIS to study secular course except Arabic and Islamic Course.

I don't know why Christians always have headache over things that have nothing to do with them.!

Thanks my brother. The Arabic and Islamic qualification you talking about is only use to study Arabic and Islamic study in University.

Do you want people study Arabic in University to learn CRS in secondary school or what

hafeeanubasy:

Nobody use NBAIS to study secular course except Arabic and Islamic Course.

I don't know why Christians always have headache over things that have nothing to do with them.!

Would MURIC have accepted that if it was the other way round?

R

hafeeanubasy:

Nobody use NBAIS to study secular course except Arabic and Islamic Course.

I don't know why Christians always have headache over things that have nothing to do with them.!

This is not a excuse. Which university will accept only CRS and CRK in waec as the only requirement to study CRS in the university

Okay

How's being an expert in religion equatable to being an expert in let's say a science related fields?. .

OLAADEGBU:



SaharaReporters

na for only north e dey work

In as much as you want to study whatever course in a secular tertiary institution, you must be itted into the institution through the standard and generally recognized exam body.

citizenY:


And if you talk of Friday as work free day .....

Bobloco, what are u saying? Which one b Christian put mouth 4 waiting no concern dem. When r dey suppose talk?

hafeeanubasy:

Nobody use NBAIS to study secular course except Arabic and Islamic Course.

I don't know why Christians always have headache over things that have nothing to do with them.!

if that's the case, you shouldn't be qualified to go to a university with the certificate, maybe an Islamic college of education if that exists.

I'm hearing thisfirst time in my life.

With this news I look like a stranger in my own country because I never heard such exist in Nigeria education system

Lanre1st:


Thanks my brother. The Arabic and Islamic qualification you talking about is only use to study Arabic and Islamic study in University.

Do you want people study Arabic in University to learn CRS in secondary school or what

After using it for Islamic study, they'll graduate and become JAMB Registrar.

Nonsense. Absolutely rubbish in first place.

When and how did the mullahs smuggle in that policy and law into our educational system, while we were asleep?

If it was ed into law as a bill? Who signed it into law?

Things dey happen for this country o..