acidtalk: Couple of years back religious studies; Islamic religious Knowledge (IRK) or Bible Knowledge (BK) were made compulsory the Nigerian School curriculum from primary up to Junior Secondary School (JSS).

Aside Mathematics and English Language, one is expected to pass one of those subjects as well as it was made to appear a compulsory subject.

Then (that generation), Moral values were held up in high esteem. People respected their parents, siblings, neighbors and elderly ones.

Children stood up for elders to sit, they never spoke without taking permission when an elder was speaking and above all they dressed morally right.

After the Government refused to make religious knowledge compulsory, things have totally gone bizarre in the Society. Even missionary schools and church owned university aren't helping matters as most of them are all out to make Profit without caring much about instiling discipline and the fear of God into their students.

The question now is; Should religious studies be made compulsory in Nigerian Educational System?[right][/right]

@acidtalk, and your point is?? That perhaps a civil society cannot exist without religion? Wrong. There are no bases for your premise. Perhaps you should say as Nigerians, we are not accountable to anyone.
The government is not accountable to the people, and neither are the people to the government and themselves.
Children are not accountable to their parents; parents are not accountable to their children;
Teachers are not accountable to the principal, students, parents or community and vice versa;
Doctor/nurses are not accountable to their patients or community;
Universities are not accountable to their students and the students are not accountable to their professors/lecturers and chancellors;
Businesses are not accountable to their clients; stores are not accountable to their customers;
The law is neither accountable to the defendant nor the plaintiff;
Police and law enforcement are not accountable to the public;
Do you really believe teaching religion in educational institutions to the masses would fix these obvious failures in our society? I doubt it. Teaching religion masks the problem and is not to even be considered as a partial solution. Beware of what you ask for. Perhaps what you may get with religion being taught in our schools is brainwash and sharia law introduced in some schools in the south. As a matter of fact, we tend to hide behind religion to commit all these lawlessness, and find it convenient to blame the invisible DEVIL. Everyone seems to be crying foul without anyone taking personal responsibility. What we need is an education that teaches us how to THINK for ourselves - not waiting for elders, pastor, uncle, government, whatever to come and solve a problem for us. If you ask me basic and critically thinking is missing from our primary education through our higher institutions. Otherwise, it would be clear to most that the accountability problem and the population not taking individual responsibility has finally come to a head in the 21 century. A country with no vision or plan because we can’t think. You have a GOD given mind use it. Use it!!!!

Religion should not be mixed with academics. If you want study or share religious views, the church/mosque should be the right place and not schools. It is quite unfair to indoctrinate dogma into the minds of little innocent kids in the name of religion.
Sincerely, I'm yet to see the benefits of these studies on the larger nigerian society. Alot of these kids aren't interested in the first place, they don't take these subjects seriously since its already taught in their places of worship, its boring when you go to church on sunday, your pastor teaches you the word of god, you return to school on monday, your teacher is repeating the same thing.
Lastly, I find it quite irritating that only two religions are deemed important enough to be taught in schools - Why? Are they the best religions? What happened to our african traditional religions, why are they not taught to the students?

Today. . .

Every other house on every other street in any city in Nigeria is a church.

The biggest building in middle of a small city is a mosque.

Every other open space is a crusade ground.

There are now 24 hrs Miracle Galore on some TV channels.

The level of noise pollution is on the high side because of churches and mosques blasting away with their megaphones.

The Cassette and CD player who sells his ware from a wheelbarrow has his stereo blasting gospel music every hour on the hour.

At least 2 hrs of every day of the week is set aside for one religious event or the other.

. . . .And you think it is a 45 mins CRK or IRK class that will make a difference?

Religious studies will not solve the problem of societal decadence. Religion uses fear to scare kids away from vice - doesn't really teach them to know right & wrong for what they are. Many of the children of those days are now armed robbers, fraudsters, p-rostitutes.

I'm thinking Moral Instruction, though the real change the society needs has to come from home. Sadly most parents don't even have the values to impart on the kids in the first place. The future is indeed bleak. :-(

why can't they teach ifa, odinani, etc
the way i see it, any child who wants to learn about moses or mohamed learns enough in sunday school or almajiri schools

Religious studies is no different than other subjective studies such as 'Greek mythology', 'English literature' or 'Modern Art'. These types of courses should be purely academic and free of any bias. In other words, CRS (as it was called back in my days) should not be a class where the teacher tries to evangelize the students. Unfortunately my 'typical Nigerian' teacher back in secondary school tried to turn the class into a deliverance/Holy Ghost service. mcheeew

To answer the question, no it should not be compulsory; It is not a fundamental study like Language or Mathematics, It should instead be done out of interest as an elective course.