A coalition of Christians in Nigeria under the aegis of The National Prayer Altar (TNPA) has called on the Nigerian government to reverse its ratification of the policy equating certificates issued by the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) with WAEC, NECO, NBTE and other standardised examination bodies, describing it as a distortion of the nation’s secularity.
According to them, the policy was introduced without constitutional backing, regulatory transparency, or national consensus, and must therefore be declared null, void, and of no further effect, immediately to safeguard the constitutional foundations, educational credibility, and unity of Nigeria.
The group in a petition signed by Prof Kontein Trinya and Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, on behalf of 112 Christian Elders both at home and in the diaspora, said since NBAIS was established to provide certification in Arabic and Islamic Studies, allowing it to issue certificates deemed equivalent to WAEC, NECO and NBTE for general admission into secular institutions, is a violation of constitutional neutrality.
The organisations called on the Ministry of Education, in concert with NUC, JAMB and Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), to publicly and permanently abolish the policy equating NBAIS certificates with WAEC, NECO or NBTE because it lacked legal backing.
The petition reads, “Our objection is not rooted in cultural or religious disagreement, but in the urgent necessity to preserve Nigeria’s education system as a secular, merit-based, and policy-coherent national framework in accordance with the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and in alignment with the national education regulatory architecture governed by the National Policy on Education (NPE), the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, and the mandates of the National Council on Education (NCE).
“No equivalent recognition has been granted to Christian, Traditional African, or other religious or cultural education systems, thereby creating a de facto policy of religious preference.
“This policy decision does not merely flirt with constitutional boundaries, it crosses them. It introduces a theological asymmetry into a national education system that is, by law and by design, intended to be secular, merit-based, and religiously agnostic. Such elevation of one religious certification structure into the general admissions framework, without a corresponding legislative framework or national consensus, represents a structural breach of Nigeria’s policy secularity. It sets a precedent that is both legally unsustainable and socially destabilizing.
“Recognizing NBAIS as a general academic qualification, without establishing statutory equivalents for Christian, Traditional African, or indigenous language-based education systems, sets a dangerous and indefensible precedent. The Federal Government cannot lawfully, ethically, or politically justify privileging one faith-linguistic framework while excluding others.
“As of today, no federal education board exists for Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Tiv, Ijaw, or Christian Biblical Studies. Elevating a faith-anchored, linguistically specific institution like NBAIS into the national admissions ecosystem, while denying the same institutional opportunity to other traditions, constitutes structural discrimination.
“This action violates the constitutional mandate of religious neutrality under Section 10 and directly undermines the Federal Character principle under Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution. It also invites a wave of lawful demands from other religious and cultural groups for federal equivalence, resulting in a proliferation of fragmented certification boards, ideologically divergent syllabuses, and policy incoherence. This is not reform. It is fragmentation disguised as inclusion.
“The absence of federal certification pathways for other cultural and faith traditions is not just a legal asymmetry, it is an act of educational exclusion. The current policy effectively blocks entire communities from participating in similar pathways, creating an unconstitutional tier system in national education access.
“In principle, educational inclusion must offer equal recognition and equal institutional status to all traditions within a plural society, not selective elevation. By institutionalizing access for one group while ignoring others, the NBAIS equivalence policy excludes by omission. Such exclusion is not only inequitable, it is nationally destabilizing.
“True equity is not about expanding opportunity for some while silencing others. It is about designing an education system that reflects the full spectrum of Nigeria’s civic, cultural, and constitutional diversity. In its current form, the NBAIS policy falls far short of this standard, and cannot stand unchallenged.
“To qualify as a general certification body within Nigeria’s national education framework, an examining institution must demonstrate transparent alignment with the National Policy on Education (NPE) and undergo independent curriculum standardization and moderation by statutory bodies such as the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and the National Council on Education (NCE).
“As of this petition, there is no publicly available evidence that NBAIS certifications, particularly the SAISSCE and Tahfeez streams, have been subjected to such nationally recognized moderation or curriculum harmonization.
“Even where NBAIS claims to teach certain core subjects, certification without transparent national moderation cannot be assumed to meet universal academic standards. Equivalence must be proven through inter-agency oversight, public and international validation, not presumed by policy declaration or internal assessment alone.
“Until such independent moderation is documented and published, granting equivalence to NBAIS certificates poses an unjustified risk to quality assurance, graduate competence, and institutional credibility at the national level.
“The Presidency and National Assembly must issue a formal declaration that, in accordance with national law and education policy, only certifications administered by WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, and NBTE-approved bodies shall be accepted for general academic progression and access to professional training in Nigeria. This reaffirmation is critical to prevent silent substitution, parallel credentialing, or future manipulation of admission standards through unauthorized or narrowly scoped certifying boards.
“If the Federal Government is to entertain specialized educational boards of any kind, it must first establish a comprehensive, secular, and merit-based national framework — accessible to all faiths, languages, and cultural systems under identical conditions. Until such a framework exists, and is enacted through full legislative and regulatory process, no cultural or religious certification, including that of NBAIS, may be granted national status or equivalence.
“We acknowledge the ongoing efforts of regulatory bodies to uphold educational standards in Nigeria. However, the policy equating NBAIS certificates with those of WAEC, NECO, and NBTE represents a fundamental breach of national education integrity, constitutional balance, and institutional trust. It is not merely an administrative anomaly, it is a strategic distortion of Nigeria’s secular, merit-based education framework, introduced without transparency, national consultation, or curricular equivalence.
“This is not a call for review or reform. It is a call for total reversal. We therefore urge all relevant authorities across the education sector, civil society, legal institutions, and democratic governance to act immediately and decisively.
“This is a defining moment for Nigeria: either we uphold one national standard for all, or we descend into a patchwork of privileged pathways that fracture the very foundation of equity and unity.
“The NBAIS equivalence policy must be abolished in its entirety. The future of Nigeria’s children, its institutions, and its democratic integrity depends on it.”
