Northern group wants speedy passage of Arabic studies board bill

A group, Concerned Northern Forum, has called for the speedy passage of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) Bill now before the National Assembly.

The group, comprised of 73 civil society organisations in the 19 northern states and Abuja, also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to consider increasing budgetary allocation to the board to enable it to properly function like other educational boards.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, the spokesman of the forum, Abdulsalam Kazeem, said the speedy passage of the bill became imperative in view of the importance of the board to Islamic education in the North.

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He said concrete efforts in harmonising and giving directions to the study of Arabic and Islam in the region came with the birth of the NBAIS.