Reps advocates outright ban of educational materials on LGBT nationwide

The House of Representatives on Thursday called on Federal and Subnational Governments to ensure outright ban of all educational materials relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) across the country.

The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion titled: ‘Ban on inappropriate educational materials in nursery and pre-primary schools in Nigeria,’ sponsored by Hon. Sulaiman Abubakar Gumi.

In his lead debate, Hon. Gumi observed that Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) is saddled with the “statutory responsibility to undertake and promote book development and local authorship for quality assurance at the National level, while the Curriculum Service Departments undertake the same at the State Level, whereas the Education Research Council (ERC) does same in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The House is concerned about the influx of foreign educational materials introduced in Nursery and Primary schools in Nigeria which tend to teach and promote certain morals that are alien and inimical to our cherished norms and values. 

“The House is also concerned that the widely used book, ‘Queen Primer’ subtly introduces terms ‘gay’, ‘eros’, etc, that communize sexual perversion and immoral behaviours, thus exposing innocent children to terms inappropriate for their age, which is unlawful, unethical, highly immoral and antithetical to child upbringing. 

“The House is cognizant of the need to instil and protect moral values in children and society at large by resisting the use of educational materials that teach or promote any form of alien behaviour which violates the laws and moral values in all educational institutions, especially in the Nursery and Primary schools.”

In his remarks, Hon. Sada Soli, who praised the spirit and timeliness of the motion as it seeks to cure the confusion and distress these strange knowledge inflicts on children, further reiterated that Nigeria has laws prohibiting these inappropriate contents in the society, especially as Nigerian religions frown at them.

On his part, Hon. Olumide Osoba, who argued that the use of these gay nomenclature is against Nigerian cultural values, frowned at Western countries bullying African nations to accommodate such and called on the House to stand firm against it.