Civil Society Organisations in Enugu State, yesterday, staged a peaceful demonstration against introduction of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), otherwise known as Family Life and HIV education in Nigerian schools.
They stated that the subject was introduced into the education system through different textbooks and school programmes in the primary and secondary schools, especially for primary five and six basic sciences, as well as Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1-3 basic sciences.
Leading members of CSOs – Happy Home Foundation, Women and Youth Organisations of the Catholic Church, Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), during the protest against the development, which took them to the State House of Assembly, Enugu State Universal Basic Education and Post Primary School Management Board (PPSMB), revealed that such basic sciences textbooks, used in these classes, have diagrams of women and men reproductive organs and texts, describing their genitalia.
Addressing the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Edward Ubosi, who was flanked by other lawmakers, the Coordinator of the groups, Dr. Regina Akosa, hinted that comprehensive sexuality education “is outright pornography,” adding that “children want to experiment and practice what they learnt in classrooms after school time.
“Because it is pornography, it does exactly what pornography does to its consumers; addiction, escalation, desensitisation, acting sexually and violence.
“These are what these students demonstrated. Besides, research has shown that when a person is emotionally or sexually aroused at a time of witnessing or experiencing something, some chemicals such as Epinephrine are released into the blood stream and go into the brain lurked in a vivid memory, to be recalled at another time.
This is how pornography addiction comes about,” she added. She drew their attention to the danger facing the country and the continent by teaching such programmes in schools. She, therefore, appealed to the state legislators to help remove it from the school curriculum.
Ubosi appreciated the women for their efforts, assuring that the appeal would be presented at the Conference of Speakers of Nigeria Forum to gain the needed attention.