Nigeria: The Church Protests School Closures During Ramadan

This year, the start of Lent coincides with the beginning of Ramadan, a coincidence that reminds everyone of the harsh reality of Christian survival in an Islamized society.

In fact, since February 28, 2025, four states in the north of the country—Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, and Kebbi—have ordered the closure of all schools, including Catholic institutions, during the month of Ramadan. This measure, which extends until March 30th according to official guidelines, has sparked a wave of indignation among Christians.

"As the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), we express our deep concern at the recent announcement by some governors in northern Nigeria to close schools for five weeks," the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) lamented in a statement published on March 3, 2025, and relayed by Fides.

In these northern states, where Sharia law has been in effect since 1999, closing schools during Ramadan marks a departure from prior practice. Traditionally, schools adjusted their schedules to allow Muslim students to observe the fast without interrupting classes. But this year, the governors justified their decision by the need to allow families to devote themselves fully to religious practices, an explanation that convinced neither Christians nor teachers' unions.

The bishops emphasize their perplexity as countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where Ramadan is central, keep schools open with adjustments. Moreover, according to the CBCN, closing schools for five weeks in the north of the country could encourage school dropouts, in regions where very high percentages of young people leave school or do not attend at all.

This decision is all the more incomprehensible since it amounts to shooting themselves in the foot for the northern states. Catholic schools, which welcome students of all faiths, play a key role in education in Nigeria: several tens of thousands of students in these schools now find themselves deprived of classes for five weeks. This measure compromises efforts to reduce the alarming rate of out-of-school children, estimated at 10 million by UNESCO, especially in the north of the country.

But Islam has its reasons that reason itself knows nothing of. Nigeria, Africa's leading economic power and the continent's most populous country, has become one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. For decades, Christian communities, who represent about half of the continent's 220 million inhabitants, have suffered increasing persecution, fueled by Islamist extremist groups and ethnic tensions. 

 In 2025, this crisis is reaching a new level of severity, marked by brutal violence, mass displacement, and persistent impunity, as highlighted by the latest reports and testimonies. According to Open Doors' World Watch List 2025, published in January, Nigeria ranks 7th worldwide among the countries with the most extreme persecution of Christians.

As Ramadan 2025 continues, the situation remains tense. Catholic bishops have urged the federal government to intervene to guarantee secularism and educational rights for all Nigerians, but so far there has been indifference, and discontent is growing among the Catholic minority.