Abuja, 23 March, 2021 / 6:20 pm (ACI Africa).
Christian leaders in Nigeria have called on the leadership of the country’s National Assembly to suspend the Bill that seeks to institutionalize the wearing of the Muslim headscarf popularly known as the “hijab” in the West African nation.
In their Monday, March 22 statement obtained by ACI Africa, representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) call on relevant leaders in Parliament “to suspend a bill before the House of Representatives (HoR) seeking to institutionalize the use of hijab in the country. It is ill-timed and uncalled for.”
According to CAN officials, the proposed law titled “Religious Discrimination (Prohibition, Prevention) Bill, 2021” seeks “to provide a mechanism for enforcing certain provisions of the Constitution and other international laws that recognizes the right of a female to adorn hijab in both public and private establishments in Nigeria.”
“We wonder what the sponsors of the Bill seek to gain from it other than to compound the security problem and the wearing of hijab in public and Christian schools,” the Christian leaders say in the statement signed by CAN’s General Secretary, Joseph Daramola.
The call to suspend the bill, CAN representatives say, is based on Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution as amended, stipulating that “the National Assembly shall have the power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to this Constitution.”