[News] Nigerian lawmakers ask FG to ban popular children’s book ‘Queen Primer’ over pro-LGBTQ content

Nigerian lawmakers in the House of Representatives want the federal government and other sub-national governments to ban the use of the popular children’s textbook ‘Queen Premier’ in schools for containing pro-LGBTQ+ texts.

The lawmakers made the call on Thursday, Oct. 19, during plenary, following the adoption of a motion moved by Sulaiman Gumi, who wants the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), a regulatory agency to exercise its “statutory responsibility to vet educational materials” before being used in Nigerian schools.

Gumi said that the book contains words like “gay”, and “eros” and that there is a covert attempt to slip books with “immoral culture” into primary and secondary schools in Nigeria.

Gumi said: “Queen Primier 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.”

The lawmaker added that there is a need to “protect moral values in children and society at large by resisting the use of educational materials that teach or promote any form of alien behaviour which violates the laws and moral values in all educational institutions.”

Another lawmaker Bello El-Rufai said there is a subtle attempt to “catch young people young” through the books. He disclosed that he had to withdraw his daughter from a primary school in Abuja for using the book.

“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, in his contribution, said the parliament has a responsibility to protect Nigerians and future generations.

Isaka Ibrahim blamed the “moral decadence” facing the country on the forceful collection of schools from foreign missionaries.

The House of Representatives in its resolution urged the federal, state and local governments to place a total ban on the local production, importation and use of any educational material that contains texts that teach or promote LGBTQ+ terms in schools.