The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs has accused the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan of marginalization of Muslims.
The areas of marginalization, the NSCIA said, include appointments into Federal Government institutions, enlistment into security agencies and failure to guarantee right of dressing for Muslim women in places of work and schools.
The NSCIA, in a statement signed by its acting Director of Publicity, Muhammad K. Qasim, said the body made its position known after a meeting of its Expanded General Purpose Committee in Abuja on November 13, 2013.
Qasim said the meeting was attended by the principal officers of the Council and key Muslim leaders from across the states of the federation.
The NSCIA is headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad.
According to Qasim in a statement made available to the press on Monday: “The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs is concerned over the disturbing trend of marginalizing Muslims in key appointments in Federal Government institutions. Data available to the Council indicate a systematic cleansing of Muslims from key positions of authority. This is dangerous for a nation which should encourage harmony and unity based on equity, justice and respect for diversity and pluralism.
“Council also notes that admission into key military institutions such as NDA and patterns of recruitment into police and other security agencies do not show sensitivity to balance and social indices such as faith. Muslims who are qualified should be admitted and trained on a scale that shows respect for a multi-religious nation such as Nigeria.”
Qasim said despite the fact that the Constitution of the country guarantees freedom of worship to Nigerians, Muslim women were being denied the right to wear the veil (hijab) in governments and other public and private institutions.
The statement said: “Council calls on the Federal and State Governments and all other private and public institutions to stop the policy of depriving Muslim women of their rights to dress in accordance with the demands of their faith.”
The NSCIA equally charged the Federal Government to compensate the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.
It also frowned at what it termed the failure of the new curriculum produced by the National Educational Research and Development Council to provide young Nigerians the rights to receive full and mandatory religious education.
The statement added: “This is a major failing by all governments and is unacceptable. All Nigerian children must be availed full opportunities to receive religious instruction and training until at least the end of Senior Secondary School. The new curriculum which relegates Islamic Studies/Christian Religious Studies (IS/CRS) to a part of a subject (up to Junior Secondary School) and which made the subjects optional at the Senior Secondary level be reversed so that the two are made independent, core and compulsory up to the Senior Secondary level.”
