By Anthony Olubunmi Okogie
We live in a country
where the rumor mills work relentlessly and unceasingly, a land where
conspiracy theories are never in short supply. There are rumors in the air that
a new curriculum of basic education is either about to be adopted, or has
already been adopted by the Federal Ministry of Education, and that it is
already being implemented.
*Cardinal Okogie |
It is said that this
curriculum, with the stated intention of merging religion and national values,
merges subjects like Christian Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Civic Education,
Social Studies, and Security Education into one
compulsory subject; that this compulsory subject will be taught to our children
from Primary 1 to Junior Secondary School 3; that our young and impressionable
minds will be taught in this compulsory subject that Jesus neither died on the
cross nor resurrected; that all the children to be taught this subject would be
required to memorize and recite the Quran; that they (children) will be taught
or are being taught already that they may disobey their parents if they do not
allow them to become Muslim.
For the sake of limited
comfort, let us be hypothetical and imagine that these rumors emanated from the
fertile imagination of idle mischief-makers. That would be a confirmation of
the famous dictum that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop. The emergence and
increasingly powerful influence of social media clearly and unambiguously
demonstrate to us in Nigeria
that there is a large population of such minds. Their stock in trade is
misinformation for the sake of dissension. They know how to make falsehood
appear as truth and, even when they speak the truth, they do so in a way that
misleads. Such individuals threaten our peaceful coexistence.
But there is room for
another hypothesis, a discomforting one this time. What if such a curriculum
exists, with its contents as reported in these rumors? If indeed such a
curriculum is being implemented or is about to be implemented then its authors
and executors should seriously consider its implications. It would be gravely
imprudent to present Islam to a Christian child in ways that devalue Islam. In
the same way, it would amount to a grave disservice to interreligious
relationship if Christianity were to be presented to a Muslim child in ways
that devalue the teachings of Christianity.