By Itaobong Offiong Etim

Our national discourse was recently charged with the news of the purported removal of Christian Religious Studies from the nation’s school curriculum. Many Christian leaders described the move as a subtle way to Islamize the country. The National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), whose responsibility is to design, draw and review subjects in the curriculum, frantically tried to explain what the new policy entails but no one listened.

The council subsequently revealed that it reached the decision in 2010 to reduce the number of subjects offered in schools from twenty to twelve.

The development led to the introduction of “National Values and Civic Education” into the national curriculum, under which both Islamic and Christian Studies were subsumed. However, the recent resolution by the National Assembly to allow those two subjects to be studied separately has doused the tension, or so it seems.

Whose victory is this? Will it arouse students’ interest in the study of the subjects? What about parents and, especially, our Christian leaders? Will they do more to ensure that students have more than a passing interest in the subject and not only study to pass examinations?  If these questions are not answered in the affirmative, then we all were politicizing and playing to the gallery.

Teaching of religions ought not to be the concern of government.  Parents and affected religious organizations should take up that responsibility. Our Holy Book advises that parents should lay a solid foundation for the training of their children so that they will not deviate from it when they grow up.

The current socio-economic imperatives, with their concomitant materialistic appeals, make not a few parents guilty of dereliction of this celestial command. Most parents, including our clergymen, hardly have time for their children, let alone preach to them.

To me, the teaching of morals in schools should not be relegated, knowing that the application of knowledge is the hallmark of learning and not acquisition of certificates. As our nation continues to witness a steep decline and depreciating morality quotient with insidious pressures for prosperity, these will continue to drive many to materialism. Corruption has now been elevated to a national lifestyle where public officials loot our collective till with reckless abandon.

If you ask me, Nigeria is not in short supply of religious teachings. In fact, it is morals that are lacking. This is the bane of our development. Our deficit in this area makes us a breeding ground for the ubiquitous monster called corruption. The level of ostentatious display of wealth in our clime makes looting and stealing   appetizing. When a supposed religiously conscious people cannot build a peaceful and corruption-free nation, then it is hypocrisy that is at work.

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Interestingly, some of the countries with the best standard of living and low corruption index do not place any premium on religion. In most of these countries, religion is studied along with civic and moral education. France, Malaysia, Canada, United States and Mexico are good examples of these nations. In Norway, for instance, Evangelical Lutheran parents are mandated to make a private arrangement for religious training of their children. And in Scotland, Religious Education is called Religious and Moral Education in primary and junior secondary schools while in upper secondary schools, it is called Moral and Philosophical Studies.

At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that the teaching of religions with no emphasis on morality will produce extremism and further polarise the country along religious lines. It is the absence of morality in our national psyche that would make a man or woman to steal so much than he or she ever has need for. All these corrupt people, if you ask me, are extremely religious. They are either devout Muslims, staunch Catholics or bon-again Christians. Then, how come our consciences never prick us when we cart away the national wealth and deprive our people and children yet unborn the right to have a decent life? What about decaying social infrastructure like schools, hospitals and power supply? Our country, yes, indeed our dear nation bleeds in the hands of ruthless leaders.

A survey of fifty richest countries was conducted by “countries of the world.com” in 2016 where countries were ranked by their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based on Power Purchasing  Parity (PPP). From Qatar, with GDP of $129,727, to Hungary with $27,211.

All these countries have life expectancy of well above 70 years. In these countries, corruption is not treated with kid-gloves. In fact, punishments ranging from political participation ban, life sentences to death penalty are put in place to check corruption.

No, your country never made the list and is not likely to join these elite countries in years to come. Nigeria’s GDP based on PPP stood at a paltry $2,640.29 and life expectancy at 55years. Corruption is, indeed, a killer!

Also, Times Higher Education of world universities ranking for 2015/16 placed the best university in Nigeria (University of Ibadan) 601st among the world’s top 800 universities, putting the university 200steps behind University of Makerere, Uganda, which occupied 401st position.

Earlier on, WHO ranked Nigeria’s best hospitals, 187th out of 190 countries. If the restoration of Religious Studies in our schools will bring us hope, then it is victory for all of us!

Etim writes from Lagos.