Group Urges Integration of Jewish, Other Minority Religious Communities in Nigeria

By Olisemeka Obeche
Leadership of the Commonwealth Jewish Council, has called for recognition of fundamental rights of the Jewish community and other minority religious groups in Nigeria and their integration into the national frameworks for building a sustainable inclusive, social-cohesive and peaceful society.

Clime Lawton, Executive Chairman of Commonwealth Jewish Council, made the call on Thursday in Awka while interacting with journalists during his official visit to Anambra State.
Mr. Lawton, who is on a week-long working visit in Nigeria, expressed his joy in the large, growing population of Jewish community in the country, but displeasure over their isolation from official policy, legal and developmental issues in Nigeria.

He identified the practice of holding elections on Saturdays, which automatically disenfranchise millions of Jewish voters across the country as a case study.

“You can have elections on Saturdays, but you may or may not know that the Jewish Sabbath, Shabbat, is on Saturday, and on Shabbat, we do no work, which includes not going into a polling booth to vote. So because the elections are on Saturday, all committed Jews in Nigeria are disenfranchised.

“We know that it’s not the intention of the law of Nigeria to discriminate against Jews, but because it hasn’t thought of this diversity, it hasn’t figured out a solution to this problem.

“There is need to find a way to ensure that Jews in Nigeria are also accommodated”, he adds.

The UK based Jewish leader further called for a broad-based policy that will integrate the religious minority groups in the country to engender peaceful coexistence and douse ethno-religious tension.

“I think the existence of a Jewish community gives Nigeria a wonderful challenge and a wonderful opportunity to no longer think about Nigeria as a country that has to work out its problems between two religious communities, but instead a country that has to figure out how to include all the diversity within it.

“I’m sure if you look within Nigerian society, you will find other small sub groups of different communities and different religions.

“Of course, you’ve got all of those people in Nigeria who continue with old religions or African religions before Christianity or Islam. How is Nigeria going to accommodate and given the scale and status of Nigeria in Africa, without doubt, one of the leading nations of Africa, where Nigeria leads other countries, Nigeria can set an example to the entire continent, how to make a country which can accommodate diversity.

Specifically, he called for introduction of multi-religious studies into Nigerian curriculum for broad-based, rather than lopsided religious studies.

“One thing that I have noticed in Nigerian schools, is there is nothing in the curriculum that specifically teaches children about different religions. So they might learn about their own religion, but they don’t learn about anybody else’s and it would be a wonderful thing if space could be provided on the curriculum to teach, say Christian children about Islam and Muslim children about Christianity.

“If you add, in teaching about Judaism, there would be an enrichment of deepening and a diversifying of the curriculum, which would prepare young Nigerians for a 21st century world.

“You know that not all Nigerians are going to live the rest of their lives in Nigeria. You know that people from the rest of the world will come to Nigeria as it grows and flourishes; and Nigerians need to be prepared to meet this world.

“So, Jewish content can enrich that without being in any way a threat to anybody. I really hope that those developments can come about. It’s not going to happen overnight, but in the next decade, we could see such developments. This would be Nigeria pushing forward to be a leader in Africa and an example.

Earlier in his welcome address, the President of Nigeria Jewish Community, Arthur-Regis Odidika, disclosed that they had over two million members across the country and that the organization had made several efforts to push through policy reforms aimed at given their members and other minority religious groups in the country sense of belonging.

According to him, its efforts so far, including presentation during recent legislative public hearing on constitutional amendment at Enugu, had not yielded desired fruits.

“We have a growing, vibrant Jewish community in Nigeria. The growth is phenomenal. Presently, like self realization and self discovery, a lot of people are beginning to trace themselves, back to the Jewish religion, especially, and most especially in the southern part.

“But governments do not recognize the Jews of Nigeria on their protocols through religious meetings. So it’s really hurtful. It’s really painful, and we are paying our dues, making sure we contribute positively towards the unity, growth and progress of this country”, he adds.

He seized the opportunity to appeal to relevant policy leaders and lawmakers to consider using policy frameworks that accommodates all religious communities to build an egalitarian society and push back the growing religious tension.