Whenever I look at religion, and see how deeply it has impacted my people, and set us backwards, I always try and figure out:
How did it start?
Where is the problem?
Where is it taking my people to?
Based on my observation and experience as a survivor in northern Nigeria, as a victim of insurgents, and as a citizen as well, I easily figured out some of my questions and the solutions to them. The major challenge will be the implementation, but still religion must be rooted out. If not, we will continue to suffer and remain backward.
People are being indoctrinated, and religion is being imposed into the brains and lives of people, at a young age. At that point the brain of a child is very sharp. Anything you teach to a child will stick to them up to their old age and they will take that culture to their grave. 90% of religious indoctrination happens at an early stage, either in Sunday school for Christians or Islamic school for Muslims. The only way to counter such indoctrination is to approach it in the same simple way.
I secretly initiated a campaign called “Catch Them Young”. This happened when I was voluntarily serving as in a youth corps in my one-year compulsory youth service after university graduation. I was posted to teach in a private school that belongs to the Islamic sect of “Izala” in the Northwestern part of the country. I used my influence, and taught logic and critical thinking plus some other things that expose religion and its dangers. It made a huge impact so that the children’s behavior changed, and this manifested itself to the extent that I was called for questioning. I sailed through without any trouble and I can proudly say that I changed many lives.
Back home in the refugee camp there are many children who are orphans, some are with a parent while others have no idea where their parents are. I was lucky to have my mum and siblings here, but it’s so sad that my Dad was killed by the Boko Haram Jihadists. One of my sisters was amongst the kidnapped Chibok girls and she is not yet free. I make it a habit always to have the children around me and they are always happy because I treat them well and we play games together. I organized free lessons for them and taught them many things that school won’t teach them.
I made them realize the dangers of religion based both on my experience and on their current situation. I didn’t encounter any problems until someone suspected my activities and reported me to the camp authorities. The lessons were stopped, but I’m tirelessly working to get on track again because the children missed them a lot.