Nigerian textbooks feature mixed portrayals of Jews, Israel and the Holocaust, with some promoting interfaith respect, while others derogatorily label Jews, according to a study released on Thursday.
The report, by the London-based watchdog IMPACT-se, examined over 40 state-approved Nigerian textbooks for Grades 1-12. It paints a mixed picture of UNESCO- derived standards for peace and tolerance in education in Africa’s most populous country.
The West African nation, which has a population of more than 230 million people, is inhabited by more than 250 ethnic groups speaking 500 distinct languages, even as English is the official language. The country is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north part of the country, and Christians, who live in the south.
While the textbooks promote peace, democracy, human rights and cultural diversity, including highlighting Nigeria’s Igbo Jewish heritage, they also include elements of xenophobia, normalization of corporal punishment, gender inequality and content which may encourage negative portrayals of Jews, Israel, women and LGBTQ+ identities, the study found.
Islamic Studies textbooks vary, with some promoting interfaith respect, while others derogatorily label Jews. Some Islamic Studies texts promote interfaith understanding by referring to Jews as “People of the Book” and tracing shared ancestry through the prophets Ishaq (Isaac) and Ismail (Ishmael). However, this message is contradicted in
other Islamic Studies textbooks, where Jews are grouped together with “hypocrites and idol-worshippers.”
The mixed picture continues in Christians religious textbooks as well.
Some Christian Religious Studies textbooks in Nigeria acknowledge a sense of Jewish historical continuity, including narratives such as the Exodus and Jesus’ Jewish identity, others reinforce collective Jewish guilt for Jesus’s death.
The Holocaust is covered in general terms, but with no explicit acknowledgment of its impact on the Jewish people.
A new economics textbook praises Israel’s parliamentary system, while other texts include anachronistic references to “Palestine” in biblical contexts and falsely claim that the Jewish nation ceased to exist after the Babylonian exile.
“The education that Nigerian children receive today will shape not only the country’s future, but by extension, the continent’s,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff. “Education matters—not just for Nigeria’s development, but for the future of global understanding and cooperation.”
However, according to Bishop Denis Nethumbi, Africa director of the Washington, D.C.-based Israel Allies Foundation, Nigeria’s educational system was in a far more dire state.
“There is a systemic Islamization of Nigeria, and the education system is a primary target to mainstream radical Islamist ideologies,” he told JNS.
“This bias, which has led to forced conversions and discriminatory practices and displacement of millions of Christians, has eventually spread to include Jews and other minorities,” he added.
