Was it a pure coincidence that, as trouble was brewing in Kwara State recently, a solution was being considered in the lower House of the National Assembly? The trouble in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, was over the refusal of some Christian faith-based schools to allow Muslim students to wear hijab to the schools. The solution to this impasse is to be found in the ‘Religious Discrimination (Prohibition, Prevention) RDPP Bill, 2021, which is being derisively tagged Hijab bill by a section of the Nigerian media. Both events sparked heated and often emotional debates that, at the bottom of it all, threaten Nigeria’s multicultural identity and reality. The refusal to address the rights of people to express their religious identities negates the concept of equality, and basic human rights and will not promote the inextricable multicultural reality of Nigeria as a nation.
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The decision to bar the Muslim students from entering the school on Wednesday despite government decision did not go down well with some parents, leading to violent face-off.
The state government announced the reopening of 10 schools on Wednesday morning after they were first shut down in February.
The schools were closed on Feb. 19 over a dispute about the wearing of hijab by Muslim female students in some of the schools. x
The government set up a committee to find a solution to the dispute and it was later announced that the schools will resume on March 8 with willing female students allowed to use hijab.