SHOW YOUR FAITH BY YOUR CHARACTER Suggested Amendments to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Include Legal Provisions for the Protection of Citizen Against Religious Crimes. Just wondering how people will react to this..... The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (chapter IV section 38) has made adequate provisions for the Rights of Citizen to religion. This should be upheld without amendment. However, there is currently no legal provisions for the Protection of Citizen Against Religious Crimes and no legal provision for the Enforcement of the Citizen Rights to Protection Against Religious Crimes in our constitution. Religion has therefore become a decoy for the perpetuation of crimes against individuals and the society. We have allowed religion to become the breeding ground for mediocre and fraudster. We have thus lost most of our moral values and the essence of religion. Religion has to be protected from being hijacked by criminals who hide under religion to commit crimes against gullible innocent citizen. The guiding principle of religion should be SHOW YOUR FAITH BY YOUR CHARACTER One act of goodness can reveal more about God than a thousand sermons. Religion should not be for the orators and the eloquent. CHARACTER and ACTIONS should be the proof of FAITH. The following should therefore be made Religion Crimes punishable by law: 1. Mounting of loud speakers on churches, mosques and temples which disturb personal and public peace of other citizens who may not subscribe to the particular religion should be prohibited and punishable by law. The noise pollution and health hazards created by this growing trend can no longer be tolerated. Every citizen deserves to be protected by the law in this regards. 2. Religious buildings located in any community with population density of more than 1,000 persons per square kilometer should be sound-prove such that nobody outside the building can hear any sound from inside the building. 3. The broadcast of religion programs on public media should be prohibited. Provisions should be made for licensing of exclusive Religious channels. 4. Religious prayers at official and public functions should be prohibited. Only the National pledge can be recited at official and public functions. Public functions, in this case, is any gathering of a group of persons not for religious activities and in which there is one or more persons who may not subscribe to the religion in which the prayer is being conducted. 5. Obstructions to traffic by any religious group should be prohibited by law. This shall include, but not limited to, setting up road block, parking of vehicles on roads near religious buildings, centers, or activities. This should attract heavy fines or jail terms for key officials. 6. Religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples must keep proper register of auditable membership. Any religious organization, group, center, church, mosque or temple with membership of 100 persons and above should be properly registered with CAC within 12 months of attaining membership of 100 persons. 7. The accounts and finances of all registered religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples must be audited annually by a special religion account auditors. The head of the auditors to any registered religious organization, group, center, church, mosque or temple shall be from a different religion. 8. All funds or monies donated or accrued must be properly declared and lodged into the bank account of the religious entity within a week of receiving such monies or funds. Misused of funds donated or accrued to religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples should be made a serious crime. Salaries and allowances of staff of registered religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples should be decided by all registered members and made public. 9. Government sponsorship of religion activities should be prohibited. Nigerian government and its agents should withdraw from all national and international religious organizations forthwith. 10. No religious center, church, mosque or temples shall be located on the premises of a government or public institution. Individual or group of individuals shall however be allowed to perform their private religious rights within the premises of a government or public institution to the extent that the rights of other citizens are not compromised, trampled or violated. 11. Speeches, sermons, preachings and teachings which make derogatory statement about other religions should be prohibited and punishable by law. Religious organizations, groups, centers, churches, mosques or temples should be allowed earn their relevance and respect by making positive contributions to the community and society and not by verbal condemnation of other religions. Finally, no multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious society or nation like Nigeria has ever risen to greatness without a legal framework to protect citizens rights to religion and the laws to punish misuse of religion. And Nigeria cannot aspire to greatness without protecting its moral values from religious criminals. These proposals will be very difficult to accept for those who concentrate their minds on the past and the present Nigeria. However, if we can begin to envision a New Nigeria in which peace and security is guaranteed, in which economic prosperity, self actualization is guaranteed for every citizen. If we can visualize Nigeria as the model of a developed economy for African, a beehive of tourists, a global leader in many areas of human endeavor, then it will be easy to accept these legislative recommendations as a necessary prerequisite for the actualization of our National Dream.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 13:47:14 +0000
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