The Obnoxious Anti-Religious Law of Niger State

By James Paul Adama

The Concerned Christian Youth Forum (CCYF) have been made aware of a new policy introduced by Governor Umar Bago requiring preachers to submit their sermons for approval prior to public delivery.

Niger state has been in the limelight in recent times for some wrong reasons. This time, apart from the worrisome challenge of insecurity, the state government has exacerbated the situation by adding yet another concern to the gravely concerning condition of the state – the introduction of the law mandating all religious preachers in the state to submit their sermon notes for approval and obtain due approval from the government before preaching.

Whilst we do not subscribe to reckless, hateful and inciteful preaching, the Concerned Christian Youth Forum (CCYF) wish to, in the most unambiguous terms denounce and reject such a law and dismiss it as ill-thought, ill-advised, anti-religious, discriminatory, oppressive and preposterous. This is nothing short of religious censorship and a gross violation of the fundamental human rights of the people as it relates to their freedom of thought and religion which is enshrined in Sections 38 and 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Under international law, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which the State of Nigeria is party to as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) generally consider as oppressive and illegal, any form of restriction on the rights of people to exercise their freedom of religion.
Furthermore, the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1981) provides for freedom of religion or belief.

These key UN instruments provide freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom to change religion or belief; freedom to manifest, practice or express religion or belief; prohibition of all forms of discrimination and incitement and protection for all regardless of religion or belief.

Religion is an ultra-sensitive matter in our nation as in most parts of the world, and so, it is expected of every right-thinking and well-meaning government to handle religious matters with judiciousness and caution.

Now, come to think of it, apart from a horrifying insecurity situation, Niger state is grappling with widespread poverty having one of the highest poverty rates in the country with well over 64% of her population living below the poverty line despite being the largest state in terms of land mass. Basie infrastructures like electricity, healthcare facilities, drinkable water supply and education are out of reach of most of the population.

The average adult literacy rate of the state is somewhere in the region of 38.1% as at 2022 far below the national average of 63.16%. Appalling!
Tackling these underlying developmental issues should be the concerns of any well-meaning government and not stifling religious freedom. Even the insecurity situation in the state could be a direct offshoot of the abysmal poverty and underdevelopment prevalent in the state.

Therefore, formulating people-oriented policies aimed at enhancing the economic prospects of the state and lifting people out of poverty should be the major focus of any right-thinking government and not resorting to diversionary tactics by introducing a totally irrelevant, unreasonable, illogical and inappropriate law.

At this point, we join other well-meaning voices both within and outside the state as well as across religious divides in denouncing this obnoxious, oppressive, repressive and retrograde law. We stand for religious sanity and denounce every form of inflammatory speech or religious incitement.

However, we appeal to the government of Niger state to jettison forthwith, the law subjecting preachers to mandatory licensing and requiring preachers to submit their sermon notes for verification and approval.

This is in the interest of good governance, peace, justice, respect for the Rule of Law, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the relevant instruments and charters of the United Nations on religious freedom.

Signed

James Paul Adama
Convener, Concerned Christian Youth Forum.
Abuja, Nigeria