Nigerian Lawmakers want textbook ‘Queen Primer’ banned, gives strong reason
During a plenary session on Thursday, members of the Nigerian House of Representatives called for a ban on the use of the popular children’s textbook ‘Queen Premier’ in schools due to its inclusion of pro-LGBTQ+ content.
The motion was presented by Sulaiman Gumi, who urged the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to fulfill its “statutory responsibility to vet educational materials” before they are introduced into Nigerian schools.
Gumi pointed out that the book contains terms like “gay” and “eros,” and raised concerns about an attempt to introduce materials promoting “immoral culture” into primary and secondary education in Nigeria.
“Queen Primer’ subtly introduces terms like ‘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,” Gumi said.
Nigerian legislation currently prohibits the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, pansexual) community. The Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act was enacted on January 7, 2014, by former President Goodluck Jonathan, with violators facing potential imprisonment of up to 14 years.
Despite this law, there have been reported instances of LGBTQ community activities in certain regions of the country. LGBTQ activists argue that such legislation, which restricts and stigmatizes them, infringes upon their human rights, particularly their freedom of association. In 2019, Nigerian police bluntly stated to them, “Nigeria is not a place for you,” while emphasizing the legal repercussions of non-compliance.
A lawmaker emphasized the necessity to “safeguard moral values within children and society at large by opposing the use of educational materials that instruct or endorse any form of unfamiliar behavior conflicting with established laws and moral principles in all educational institutions.”
Another legislator, Bello El-Rufai, pointed out a subtle effort to “influence young minds” through these books. He revealed that he personally withdrew his daughter from a primary school in Abuja due to its use of such material.
“There is an Act and the terms are clear. I will get personal and tell you that I moved my daughter from a school, whose name I will not mention for obvious reasons, and i found out that for nursery school, they thought it was okay for that book to be shared,” El-Rufai stated.
The Deputy Speaker, Ben Kalu, who presided over the plenary session, emphasized that the parliament bears the responsibility of safeguarding Nigerians and future generations.
Isaka Ibrahim attributed the “moral decadence” witnessed in the country to the compulsory acquisition of schools from foreign missionaries.
The House of Representatives, in its resolution, called on the federal, state, and local governments to enforce a complete prohibition on the local production, importation, and use of any educational materials containing texts that teach or promote LGBTQ+ terminology in schools.
This opposition to the book by lawmakers is the latest manifestation of Nigerian authorities’ stance against LGBTQ+ related issues. Despite efforts by the LGBTQ+ community in Nigeria to seek recognition and protection of their ‘rights’ through legal channels, progress has been limited.
In November 2018, an Abuja federal high court dismissed a suit filed by Nigerian lesbian Pamela Adie, who sought to register a lesbian organization in the country. Pamela Adie took legal action against the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) after her application to register an organization with the name “Lesbian Equality and Empowerment Initiatives” was rejected due to violation of an existing law prohibiting same-sex marriage in Nigeria.
Nigerian gay activist Bisi Alimi noted that it might take another five years for Nigeria to enact a law recognizing LGBT rights, and an additional 10 to 15 years to establish a law recognizing same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights. “Then maybe another 20 years after that to have a same-sex marriage law. It’s not going to happen in the next 50 or 60 years, but we have to start now,” Alimi conveyed to The Guardian UK in 2016.
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