We Banned Hijab In Schools To Foster Unity–Ipaye

Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Lagos State, Ade Ipaye, has explained that the decision to ban the use of veil worn by female Muslims in Lagos State public primary and secondary schools was to promote orderliness and peace in the state.

Ipaye also commended the recent judgment of an Ikeja High Court to uphold the ban.

The veil, fondly called Hijab, was banned by the state government in its schools, but the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, MSSN, and two pupils took the Lagos State Government to court to challenge the ban.

On Friday, October 17, 2014, Justice Modupe Onyeaboha dismissed the suit filed by the students against the state government, ruling that Nigeria is a secular state according to the 1999 Constitution and that such practice would affect the secular nature of Lagos State, an entity in Nigeria.

The Commissioner noted that though the state government will not deny Lagos residents of their religious rights, but the use of uniforms in public schools for students was aimed at encouraging a sense of unity, discipline, organisation and orderliness among them.

He explained that once the use of Hijab is allowed, conscious or unconscious group affiliations will rise to demand for special rights and that the sense of unity among students of the same school will be badly affected.

“We do not want school children at this age to relate on the basis of obvious religious or social classification, hence the adoption of the uniform,” Ipaye disclosed.

He added that, “With uniforms, students, teachers and other staff are less likely to focus on dressing or appearance as a means of determining status, religion or other socio-cultural affiliations. Every student is equal and students are not able to tease or bully each other about the style, colour or quality of their clothing or their religious, social or cultural background.”