The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) since 1954: education, Muslim–Christian encounters and regional variation

Abstract

The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) is a movement that promotes the Islamic identity of Muslims in Nigeria’s educational institutions. Despite promoting the same objectives around the country, a comparison of the MSSN’s activities between the northern and southern regions of Nigeria suggests that the success of the movement varies in many aspects. This is because there are two main types of regional variation relating to the MSSN: the success of Christian opposition to the MSSN’s objectives; and the attitude of many Muslims and the government to those objectives. For example, in the Muslim-dominated northern states, the call by the MSSN to let Muslim girls wear the hijab in schools and the MSSN’s support for the reintroduction of sharia were welcomed by the state governors. However, in the south-west region, where the populations of Muslims and Christians are roughly equal, the MSSN struggled to get the state governors to accept the hijab and the call for sharia was rejected. This article thus argues that, despite envisioning the same notion of Islam for all Muslim students in Nigeria, the MSSN’s activities do not produce a monolithic Islam, and that this reflects differences in the practice of the religion across the country.

Addressing Religious Crises in Nigerian Secondary Schools: Parents’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Hijabs in Christian-Named Government Schools

“…Similar to this, ten public Christian-named government schools in Ilorin, Kwara State were shut down as a result of conflicts relating to the hijab. Public Christian missionary schools in the northern part of the country are the locus of the hijab controversy [32]. Leaders of Christian and Muslim associations have expressed worry about the re-occurring nature of the problem and have denounced the government for encouraging violence and causing property damage in schools [33].…”