"SECULARISM IN THE NIGERIAN 1999 CONSTITUTION"

The Section 38 (1) of the Nigerian 1999 constitution and the Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right, provide a legal basis for secularism in Nigeria:“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”

Secularism or the freedom of religion as it is stated in the Nigerian 1999 constitution means that Nigeria as a nation has no state or any official religion. It means that the governance of the Nigerian state affairs and the religious practices are 100% separated from one another. It means that the Nigerian government at all levels has no right to use the state resources or the Nigerian tax payers' money to support any religion that is practiced in Nigeria by Nigerians. It means that all Nigerians have the constitutional right to practice any religion of their choice. It means that any Nigerian has the constitutional right not to practice any religion in Nigeria. It means that any Nigerian has the legal right to live anywhere in Nigeria, to practice his or her religious freedom without any fear of intimidation or may choose not to practice any religion. It means that the federal government of Nigeria, the 36 state governments, the authority of the federal capital territory in Abuja and the 774 local governments cannot officially violate the constitutional right to the religious freedom for all the 170 million Nigerians