MURIC HAILS BORNO EDUCATION BUDGET

9^th January, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC HAILS BORNO EDUCATION BUDGET

Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, presented a budget of N170 billion for the 2018 fiscal year on Thursday 28^th December, 2018. Shettima gave highest priority to education by allocating N26 billion to the sector.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) commends the Borno State governor for giving education the highest allocation in the 2018 budget. It is timely, visionary and realistic.

For a state that has suffered the heaviest casualty of the Boko Haram insurgency, Borno State needs speedy recovery and giving adequate attention to education is of paramount importance to the realization of this objective.

Nonetheless, MURIC reminds all stakeholders within and outside the country of the humongous challenges facing the state. No weapon fashioned against religious extremism can be as effective as education. Although Nigeria has defeated Boko Haram militarily, the ideological wing of the deadly group is still very much alive and active. It is only a purposeful pursuit of educational projects that can eventually eliminate the misleading ideology of Boko Haram.

The allocation of 15% of the total 2018 budget to education in Borno State, though laudable, is still dwaffed by the gargantuan challenges confronting the state. It should be noted that the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recommends that education should take 26% of budgets.

If Ogun State can afford to allocate 23% to education in its 2018 budget, a state ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency should strive to defeat the insurgents ideologically by voting nothing less than 25% to education. However, the fact that the state governor deemed it fit to give the education sector the attention it deserves though within his means is a reflection of his good understanding of the situation. Shettima would have done more if the resources were there.

We therefore use our concluding space to call on the Federal Government, wealthy Nigerians and international donor agencies to pour huge funds and education relief materials to Borno State to enable the government to build more schools, upgrade existing ones and to equip educational institutions with state-of-the-art materials. Only thus can we completely uproot the multifaceted tentacles of Boko Haram from the state.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

LAW SCHOOL HIJAB IMBROGLIO: MURIC SUBMITS MEMORANDUM

3^rd January, 2017

PRESS RELEASE:

LAW SCHOOL HIJAB IMBROGLIO:

MURIC SUBMITS MEMORANDUM

The Committee on Judiciary and Justice of the House of Representatives was mandated on Wednesday 20^th December, 2017 to investigate the circumstances surrounding Law School hijabgate. A law graduate of the University of Ilorin, AbdulSalaam Firdaus Amasa, was barred from ‘call to bar’ by the Nigerian Law School. The committee was given two weeks for the assignment.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has since dispatched its memorandum to the committee.

In summary, MURIC’s memorandum which was addressed to the Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary and Justice and entitled “Memorandum in Respect of Call to Bar Case in the School of Law”, affirmed the mandatory nature of hijab for Muslim women in the Qur’an and restated the provisions of the Nigerian constitution on freedom of religion and respect for the dignity of the human person. The memorandum also revealed previous court decisions in favour of hijab including a Court of Appeal pronouncement confirming the right of Muslim women to use hijab.

MURIC appealed to the House of Representatives to “stand up for justice in this matter of infringement of Allah-given fundamental right of a lady who, having satisfied all righteousness in the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, is being denied her right to practice the law profession on account of her being a Muslim”.

The memorandum also stated that the Law School Hijabgate has brought to the fore the myriad of persecutions faced by Muslim women because of hijab in various sectors. It adds, “In the process, thousands of Muslims have been denied international passports, driving licences and national identity cards while millions have been disenfranchised during elections. It is a case of mass profiling of Muslims.”

It added, “We therefore appeal to the House of Representatives as the voice of the voiceless and the bulwark against oppression and persecution, to take the bull by the horn by criminalizing the obstruction, denial and stigmatisation of female Muslim women in hijab while carrying out their civic responsibilities like obtaining international passport, driving licence, voters’ registration card, etc.

MURIC concluded by seeking the following reliefs:

1.  immediate ‘call to bar’ for AbdulSalaam Firdaus Amasa;

2.  a judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the molestation of Muslim students who were forced to remove their hijab on that fateful day;

3.  identification and adequate disciplinary measure (or measures) in respect of the Law School female lecturer who stepped on the hijab of Firdaus and debased it by using her feet to rub it on the floor and “kicked it around”;

4.  a review of the code of dressing in the Nigerian Law School as it affects the ‘manifestation’ of religious beliefs and

5.  a review of the dress code in all professions where uniforms are used such that female Muslims in such professions can use suitable hijab along with the uniform.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

GIVE MUSLIMS THEIR OWN 1ST JANUARY

1^st January, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

GIVE MUSLIMS THEIR OWN 1^ST JANUARY

As usual and since colonial days into Nigeria’s post-independence period, the Federal Government declared today, 1st January 2018, as a public holiday.      

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) observes that today’s holiday fully consolidated the two-day Christmas holiday and enabled Nigerian Christians to kick off the 2018 Christo-Western Gregorian calendar. 

However, conscious Nigerian Muslims, particularly stakeholders in the welfare of Muslims as well as the growth and development of Islam in Nigeria, approached today’s holiday with mixed feelings. First and foremost, we express happiness for our Christian neighbours who were able to spend the day giving full practice, expression and manifestation of their faith. On the other hand, we experienced a feeling of despair, isolation and marginalization.

Our feeling of marginalization arises from the reality of the Nigerian situation which has conditioned Muslims in the country for religious segregation and subjected them to spiritual apartheid. 

Here we are today, enjoying January 1st holiday which was declared by the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria in recognition of the Christo-Western Gregorian calendar. But the same FG which recognizes this Christian calendar is yet to declare 1st Muharram a public holiday in recognition of the Islamic calendar despite several petitions and appeals to it dating back to the 60s. Surprisingly, some people still complain that Nigeria is Islamised!

For the avoidance of doubts, only two of the world’s nine calendars have either survived or remained relevant to us in Nigeria. The first was the Egyptian calendar which came into existence ten thousand years ago. This was followed by six other ancient calendars, namely, the Babylonian, Hebrew, Mayan, Chinese, Greek and Roman calendars.

Due to human errors in the Roman calendar discovered by Numa Pompilius (715 – 673 B.C.) and Julius Caesar in 46 B.C., the Council of Nicea of 365 C.E. came up with its surgical abracadabra by moving back the Roman calendar by four days. Thus March 25, 365 C.E. became March 21. 

But even this historical razzmatazz was not good enough for Pope Gregory XIII (1502 – 1585) when he discovered on Thursday, October 4, 1582 that the equinox fell on March 11 instead of March 21. By royal fiat, Pope Gregory quickly slashed off ten days from the year 1582 and the next day, a Friday which would have been October 5, 1582 became Friday, October 15, 1582. It is this Gregorian calendar, which was a product of gymnastic make-belief, that the Western world uses till today. It was this same calendar, a sheer hocus-pocus that the British Christian colonialists forced on Nigeria. 

Why is FG granting holiday for a false god of Rome and denying same for Allah the Creator of all things (Qur’an 2:29), the Judge of all Judges (95:8), Master of all masters (51:58) and the King of Kings (3:26). 

We do not wish to be misunderstood: we are not agitating for the cancellation of anything which FG has given its over-pampered favourite, whether 1st January is based on falsehood and idolatory tendency or not is not our business, let them continue to enjoy it. But give us our day for crying out loud! 

Fortunately MURIC has successfully resisted the collective amnesia which is rampant among Nigerians. We recall the torments suffered by Nigerian Muslims under colonial rule. The most relevant of these inhuman treatments was the denial of holidays for Muslims on their festival days. 

Although the colonialists declared holidays for Easter, Christmas and 1st January, they bluntly refused to give any Muslim festival an equal status. Muslims were therefore forced to go to work on Id al-Fitr and Id Al-Kabir days. While Maulud an-Nabiyy was an anathema to the colonial master, 1st Muharram was blue murder.

Whereas Nigerian Muslims were able to secure public holidays for some of its festivals in post-colonial period by dint of struggles and determination, 1st Muharram remains a pipe dream till today. The question on the lips of Nigerian Muslims today, 1st January, 2018 as Nigerian Christians savour the sweet sensation of the holiday and relish in the euphoria of spiritual fulfillment is, “When will our own come? When will the Nigerian state treat Muslims as complete human beings? For how long shall we remain second class citizens?” 

Research reveals that 1st January is in honour of Janus, the Roman god of gates whom the Romans believed protected them from invasions. This is an incontrovertible fact. Why should FG force us to idolize the false god of Rome? MURIC charges FG to drop its colonial garb and to don a truly nationalistic identity. On the contrary, the Islamic hijrah calendar is divine (Qur’an 9:36; 2:189; 10:5 and 17:12). 

Nigerians enjoy a total of eight (8) public holidays in a year. These are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Id al-Kabir, Id al-Fitr and Maulud an-Nabiyy. Five (5) of the eight holidays belong to Christians (Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 1st January, i.e, New Year Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday). Only three (3) holidays belong to Muslims, viz, Id al-Kabir, Id al-Fitr and Maulud an-Nabiyy.

It is time for FG to add 1st Muharram to the number of Muslim holidays. This will bring the total number of holidays enjoyed by Muslims to four only while Christians still continue to enjoy five. This year’s 1st Muharram is likely to fall on Tuesday, 11th September, 2018 or thereabouts. 

Finally, we advise FG and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to interact with the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) for the exact date of 1st Muharram this year and declare it as a holiday. 

For Nigerian Muslims to feel a sense of belonging, FG must close the gap between Christians and Muslims. There must be a conscious effort to fully integrate Muslims into the Nigerian project otherwise we may be sitting on a keg of gun powder. Justice is the soul of peace and whoever denies one can never enjoy the other.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)