Exclusive: Federal government may ban Christian and Muslim prayers at public functions

– Nigeria is a country populated by mostly adherents of Christianity and Islam

 – In public events, it is the norm for opening and closing prayers by Christian and Muslim faithfuls to be held  

– The federal government might soon change the status quo

NAIJ.com has been tipped off by a source close to the federal government that there are plans to place a ban on Christian and Muslim prayers at public functions.

Spearheading the campaign is the National Orientation Agency (NOA) led by the newly appointed acting director general, Mrs Ngozi Ekeoba.

Acting DG of NOA, Mrs Ngozi Ekeoba

The source who told NAIJ about the plan said the NOA has been campaigning for its enforcement but is wary of the religious nature of Nigerians and at the moment is still consulting with relevant stakeholders on the issue.

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The source words: ”The new DG has been promoting it since she came on board, but she is also careful not to receive a backlash for the idea given the very religious nature of Nigerians.

”So at the moment it is not been enforced but they are pushing the idea to many people, agencies, government departments and parastatals and many are okay with the idea. The feedback so far has been positive.”

The source also revealed that the idea has been sold to the minister of information and national orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

NAIJ.com attempts to get the minister’s comments on the issue were not successful as he did not  pick his calls or respond to the text message sent to his phone.

NAIJ however observed that the second stanza of the national anthem was recited as the opening prayer of the 8th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium held recently at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

Among those at the event were President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, 12 state governors and revered traditional rulers across the country.

A look at the Twitter handle of the NOA also reveals that the campaign is a ‘pinned tweet’ on the government agency’s handle.

The tweet reads: ”The 2nd stanza of Nigeria National Anthem is being promoted by the NOA as opening prayer at events,” with the words of the second national anthem displayed below it.

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See below:

The second stanza of the national anthem

An inquiry on the issue sent to the official email of the NOA has not been responded to at the time of writing this report.

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Meanwhile, a public relations expert and co-founder of Outright Communications, Mr Bamidele Salako has hailed the move.

In a chat with NAIJ on the move by the NOA, Salako described the plan as ‘profound.’ According to him, Nigeria is a secular state and so the activities that populate public function should reflect this secularity.

His words: ‘While still acknowledging the existence of a God – a theme central to the beliefs Nigeria’s two major religions, it gives no pre-eminence to either.

”It also captures the greatest needs of the good leadership, truth, honesty/integrity, love/unity and the actualisation of our national potential.”

Oriname Agbi, a computer engineer disagrees with Salako. According to him, the move by the NOA doesn’t make sense as Nigeria is a very religious country.

”We should be allowed to say prayers the way we want. And not have someone dictate how and what we should say,” he submitted.

On his part, a legal practitioner, Barrister Uduak Ekott said the intentions are good but expressed his doubt that many Nigerians will agree to it.

He said: ”The intentions are good. But Nigeria is a secular state, highly religious. I don’t think it will go down well with many folks.”

NAIJ.com checks in public schools around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, reveals that most of the schools has since abandoned reading  the second stanza of the national anthem.

Responding to NAIJ’s inquiry on why the second stanza of the anthem is not being recited in her school, a principal who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that the first stanza is okay as they have a little time to conduct the school assembly.

”We cannot afford to waste so much time on the assembly ground, we have so much to do so the first stanza is okay”, she said. When told of campaign of the NOA, the principal simply retorted, ”Well, we are not aware of that.”

For Salako, he hopes the move will scale through, but more importantly, he said he is  optimistic that the import of the words are impressed on the hearts and mind of public office holders when they recite the words at public functions.

The NOA prides itself as an agency that is saddled with the responsibility of enlightening the general public on government policies, programmes and activities; and also to mobilise favourable public opinion in support of the government and its activities.

The agency suffered a heavy blow in the court of public opinion as the immediate past director general of the NOA, Mike Omieri was accused of dragging the agency into politics and abandoning its core dictates.

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Omieri was sacked alongside 5 other agencies under the information ministry on Monday, February 15 by the federal government.

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