A religious advocacy organisation, The National Prayer Altar, has issued a scathing petition against the Nigerian government’s recognition of certificates issued by the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) as equivalent to WAEC, NECO, and NBTE qualifications for entry into Nigeria’s secular tertiary institutions.
In a statement dated May 14, 2025, and addressed to top education regulators including the Minister of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the organisation demanded the immediate revocation of the policy, warning that it could erode Nigeria’s secular educational framework and ignite dangerous religious and ethnic divisions.
Describing the policy as “a structural breach of Nigeria’s policy secularity,” the group insisted that the Federal Government had “taken a step that functionally violates constitutional neutrality” by promoting a religious-based certification system into the mainstream education system.Nigerian fashion
“This policy decision does not merely flirt with constitutional boundaries, it crosses them,” the petition read.
“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.”
According to the group, the elevation of NBAIS certifications, especially those related to Tahfeez and SAISSCE, to the same level as WAEC and NECO amounts to privileging one religion while systematically excluding others.
“No federal education board exists for Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Tiv, Ijaw, or Christian Biblical Studies,” the statement noted.
“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.”
