Lawyer and human rights activist, Sonnie Ekwowusi, has described comprehensive sexuality education as “anti-Africa, anti-culture, anti-common sense,” arguing that its introduction in Nigerian schools conflicts with the country’s cultural and moral values.
Ekwowusi stated this during an interview on ARISE News on Sunday while reacting to concerns over the teaching of comprehensive sexuality education in Nigerian schools.
He said his opposition to the programme was not based on religion but on cultural considerations, stressing that culture remained fundamental to building a society.
“Of course it’s not religious, it’s from the cultural point of view because every society, every country has its own culture and culture is the centre, the foundation of building a society or building a country because once you destroy the culture of the people, you have destroyed everything.”
He further criticised the teaching aspects of sexuality education to young children, arguing that it could negatively affect their moral development.
“So our advocacy is that, look, these kids are young kids, in years one, years two, and introducing this comprehensive education that is not just not for the purpose of education, it’s just to corrupt their morals, to make them practice masturbation, abortion, sterilization.”
“We are saying that this is anti-Africa, this is anti-culture, this is anti-common sense. We want to put it that way. These are kids.”
Ekwowusi also raised concerns about the involvement of foreign organisations in implementing sexuality education programmes in Nigerian schools.
“So we’re also concerned because this is implemented by foreign organisations, you know, that are not really, you know, should be not working in Nigeria. They go to these schools and they make them have access to all these things.”
He argued that exposing young children to such teachings could undermine parental authority and negatively affect Nigeria’s future human capital.
“We are saying, as very good stakeholders, that this should not happen because you are destroying the human capital, you are destroying the future generation, I mean, people who are going to be at the helm of affairs in the future. You are destroying them by introducing these things.”
According to him, schools should focus on moral and character formation rather than what he described as “immoral things.”
“What you should tell them is moral formation. That’s what we all grew up with. I mean, in my secondary school and primary school, we are all educated to, in this, you know, moral formation, in this, you know, character formation, then what you don’t do is to introduce all these, you know, abrasive, all these immoral things in schools and these kids, you know, who are very impressionable, okay, at the age of 10, 11, they are saying, okay, this is sex is your right, and all that, and all that.”
“It is terrible. It is not acceptable because it does counter to our values, it does counter to our morals, it does counter to our culture, and it’s completely not acceptable.”
Ekwowusi cited Burkina Faso as an example, questioning why Nigeria should continue to allow what he described as such programmes to be taught in schools.
“In Burkina Faso, for instance, Burkina Faso president has expelled all these organisations that are introducing these things in Burkina Faso. Why do we continue to allow this thing to be taught in our schools?”
He maintained that discussions about sex and sexuality should primarily be handled by parents rather than introduced into the school curriculum.
“The issue about sex or whatever, or sexuality, should be taught by the parents at home. This is their business. I mean, not to bring it to schools and teach them how to wear the condoms, how to do this.”
“This is completely unacceptable. And we are saying, look, it should stop. It’s not that it has not been introduced, it’s already introduced.”
Ekwowusi also recalled that opposition to the curriculum had been ongoing for years, saying a previous legal dispute over its content was settled out of court after some content was reportedly removed.
“What ignited it is that in public schools, they are still going ahead.”
“You know, there was a time that we went to court on this, and in fact, the thing was settled out of court, because when the chief registrar of the federal high court saw the content, and the judge also saw the content, we decided to settle it out of court”.
He added that the parties had agreed to remove some of the content, but expressed concern that the programme had subsequently resumed.
“We settled it out of court, because they said, okay, we drew some of the bad content. We moved them.”
“And they did.”
“We are surprised that they’ve gone back and started doing their business.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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