Governor Babatunde Fashola
Lagos State Government yesterday denied banning the use of hijab in public schools, stating that the issue was still being looked into with a view to taking a broad-based stand on it.
The government’s clarification also came on the heels of the inauguration of a six-man panel of inquiry to look into the immediate and remote causes of the incidents of collapse buildings in the state, which had remained a recurring issue over the years.
Reacting to a media report, which allegedly credited the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, as writing off the possibility of allowing hijab in public schools, the state government stated that the report was incorrect, sensational and out of context.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, said the government was still making wide consultations on the issue and would only come up with a position after exhausting all the avenues that will allow for a peaceful resolution of the matter.
Ibirogba advised the people of the state, particularly Muslim faithful, not to allow people with diabolic intentions to trivialise the issue of sustaining the peaceful co-existence among diverse groups in the state.
The commissioner explained that contrary to the report, government was still meeting with the stakeholders on the issue as explained by Oladunjoye and had, therefore, not banned or disallowed hijab in public schools.
According to him, what Oladunjoye explained at the briefing was that the government had held meetings with some key stakeholders and would still consult widely before taking a position, saying: “It will, therefore, be premature and pre-emptive to say that government has rejected the use of hijab in public schools in Lagos.”
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