By John Paul Akinduro

Sometimes in the 90s, when my older brother who was in the major seminary brought home a workshop paper on reproductive health and contending issues, delivered by the Catholic bishops of Nigeria’s Ibadan ecclesiastical province, there were just a few things such as contraception generally, use of condom and debate on if the sperm has a life in itself, that my memory could pick scantily and summarily.

It was the first time I was hearing words like euthanasia, artificial insemination and In Vitro Fertilizer (IVF) that has not only become a trending term but a popular form of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) amongst couples facing challenges of having babies in Nigeria and around the world today.

On sighting the content of the paper, my visiting uncle expressed shock and, reprimanded me for reading such a sensitive document, which according to him, was not suitable for my age even though I was already a teenager.  This was clearly a position that was being held by the society at the time. Fast-forward to 2022, Nigeria still struggles with publicly discussing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) issues especially among adolescents and young people, obviously due to cultural and religious barriers.

Recently, the media was awash with the directive of Nigeria’s minister of education, Malam Adamu Adamu, speaking on behalf of the Federal Government, to the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) – an agency of the federal government saddled with the responsibility of implementing educational policies – to delete sex education from the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC). He wanted the school to leave that responsibility to religious institutions and parents.  His argument was that sex education will further corrupt little children who have access to mobile phones and other technologies.

I was going to hastily react to the minister but I had to wait to process his line of thought and in doing so, I started seeking experts’ opinion to either support this position or put up a counter and superior argument. Luckily, the Academy for Health Development (AHEAD) Nigeria hosted a webinar where professionals working in the field of sexual and reproductive health held a debate that lasted for hours and I must confess, it was an insightful session.

Apparently, the minister was not alone. As if some interest groups have been waiting for this official position or pronouncement for a long time. Notably, the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) Zone B and the Association of Christian Schools in Nigeria (ACSN) copiously supported the minister, both agreeing with his position that ‘sex education’ should be expunged from the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC).

Obviously, from the minister’s position and those of his promoters’; one thing is clear, there is a misconception of what comprehensive sexuality education is all about by reducing it to sex education.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) does not teach children how to have sex rather it enables young people to advocate for their health, well-being and dignity by providing them with a necessary toolkit of knowledge, attitudes and skills. It is a precondition for exercising full bodily autonomy, which requires not only the right to make choices about one’s body but also the information to make these choices in a meaningful way, as captured by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

At the AHEAD webinar, Adesegun Fatusi, a professor of public health and community medicine and current Vice-Chancellor of University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED) in Ondo city, Ondo state who was also at a time a reproductive health adviser for the UNFPA, took us down the memory lane and expatiated on why comprehensive sexuality education was introduced into the school curriculum in 1988, which he said started as Population Education and progressed to Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE) due to the prevalence of HIV in early 2000s, making it imperative to protect the young population and arm them with the right information.

“Have we achieved the purpose for which the policy was formulated?” Fatusi asked worryingly. One can say we are not there yet with the increasing number of teenage pregnancy in the country as evident in the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) report that an estimated 23 percent of women aged 15 -19 have begun childbearing in Nigeria. Leaving this arduous task to parents and the religious organizations will only worsen an already terrible situation.

Proponents of removal of comprehensive sexuality education from the BEC have also argued that the teaching contributed to the increased cases of sexual misconduct and abuse leading to unintended pregnancy among adolescents and young people. “The present curriculum is age and culturally appropriate”, said Talatu Williams, National Coordinator of African Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development (AfriYAN) Nigeria, who emphasized the fact that the present Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE) curriculum is abstinence-based and not in any way urging young people to have sex.

No well-trained professional will teach use of condom, menstruation and wet dreams to a 5-yr old but a young person. Otherwise, when they reach puberty, which no one including the honorable minister has the power to prevent from happening, they may have nowhere else to turn to other than the social media, which is full of misinformation or friends who will pressure them into engaging in things that will put their lives at risk and set them off track for life.

A parent, Oluwaseun Oyetola, said the advent of social media has made the world more global and it will be to our loss if we refuse to teach our children sexuality education. According to him,  “it should be mandatory in all schools.

The recent case of a 13-yr old Chrisland schoolgirl who made national headlines over a leaked sex tape with some young boys while the school was on a dubai trip and many other cases across the country are a compelling evidence why comprehensive sexuality education should be sustained and mandated for all students.

“There are a lot of young people who are not in school in Nigeria and we are at a level where we should be pushing for more comprehensive sexuality education because we have not made enough progress. We should not withdraw the little that is out there benefiting our young people” Fatusi submitted.

“We have to choose, either we want a generation to be educated or ignorant around comprehensive sexuality education”. Warned Lucky Palmer, Country Director of Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation, who sat with me for an hour-long interview on this issue and other sexual and reproductive health and rights issues. 

Palmer was worried that most parents are not even available or well equipped to discuss comprehensive sexuality education with their children and that leaving this important issue in the hands of untrained people may be harmful.

He said, “It is either we want them to be correctly educated or learn the wrong thing from the streets. I personally think this is a wrong decision and we hope that the minister of education will have a rethink and maybe call a stakeholders’ meeting to look at the curriculum once again and if there are some specific areas that we feel are not appropriate then we can talk about how to remove or replace them”

Those supporting the minister must understand that parenting is not what it used to be. Nowadays, you see parents who are indecently dressed to their children’s school party or PTA meetings. Most of the parents in big cities such as Lagos leave their kids to the care of their help or live-in relations because they work late.

Does the minister even consider comprehensive sexuality education within legal and policy frameworks? Malam Adamu must know that he cannot just wake up and make such a pronouncement.  The Maputo protocol, which Nigeria ratified on 16 December 2004 stipulated that state parties must ensure that educational institutions at primary, secondary and tertiary levels include sexual and reproductive rights issues in their school programs and to take the necessary measures so those programs also reach women in private schools, including faith-based schools, as well as those out of school. 

Rather than acting ignorantly and emotively, the education minister must avail himself of the abundant resources around comprehensive sexuality education and allow science to lead him. Development partners, media, CSOs, NGOs, religious, traditional and educational institutions must come together and help the future of these young ones.

International organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, Planned Parenthood, WHO, Gutmaccher institute and the likes must provide support to their local partners to carry out a national study in this regard so they have enough evidence available for advocacy groups to engage government and other stakeholders.

John Paul Akinduro can be reached via [email protected]