This is an advisory note to a nation in despair, led by men who carry on as if nothing is wrong, when the hope they promised still seems far — very far — if it is even on its way at all. I write in sorrow, not in hatred. I write as a citizen who has chosen to build, not to burn. Let this be understood as a forewarning, not a threat. I mean no harm.
By this time tomorrow — Monday, 27 October 2025 — the economic posture of Nigeria may quietly shift in a way that touches our rights, our identity, and even our future as one nation under one Constitution.
At the Banquet Hall of the State House, President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima will host invited guests to unveil a new national economic framework titled:
“Nigeria National Halal Economy Strategy: A Pathway to a $1 Trillion Economy.”
Not a private business fair. Not an industry roundtable. A national strategy.
Without debate in the National Assembly.
Without constitutional clarity.
Without emotional sensitivity to a nation already on edge.
Who will be in the room? We will soon see. But we can already predict the choreography. The same “Christian representatives” who appeared at the Iftar table last Ramadan to bless the optics of religious harmony will likely be presented again — to calm nerves, to sell the Halal vision, to tell the public that there is nothing to fear. We already know this script. I bear them no grudge. I only ask: is Nigeria now governed by optics or by law?
Because tomorrow is not just about trade. Tomorrow is about the soul of the Republic.
1. Prelude: When Faith Becomes Policy
Mr. President, this mandate is yours.
In the heat of the campaign, and even on the floor of the National Assembly, lawmakers themselves broke into a chorus history has never given to any other Nigerian leader:
“On your mandate we shall stand, Bola! On your mandate we shall stand.”
Sir, no President in our history has been so openly serenaded by parliamentarians. That song was not just praise; it was trust. It was Nigeria saying, “We will swallow fear and believe you.”
But leadership has moments when even a good intention, if badly timed or badly framed, can set fire to the house you are trying to rebuild. The launch of a “Nigeria National Halal Economy Strategy” — under a Muslim-Muslim presidency, in a season of open Christian grief — is exactly such a moment.
Let us pause and ask a painful question:
Is economic ambition worth national fracture?
Because timing speaks. Symbolism speaks. Venue speaks. And silence where there should be compassion also speaks.
The Halal economy idea, on paper, aims to tap into the multi-trillion-dollar global Halal market and position Nigeria for export, investment, and credibility in Muslim-majority markets. That is what the Vice President has been championing — a place for Nigeria in a global system that rewards Halal compliance with access and capital.
No problem with that in theory.
But here is the wound: you are launching this as a national pathway, not a niche export window, at a time when Christians across this country are still burying their dead, still counting bodies from attacks that are openly described in church circles as religious persecution and, in some quarters, even as genocide.
So I must ask, sir — and I ask with respect:
How can a government that has not yet declared a National Christian Community Protection Plan declare a National Halal Economy Strategy?
When did commerce become more urgent than blood?
2. Halal, Explained in Plain Language
Let us remove the fog.
“Halal” is an Arabic word. It means “permissible,” “allowed,” “lawful.” Under Islam. Under Sharia.
Anything not Halal is “Haram” — forbidden.
Halal goes beyond food. It covers:how animals are slaughtered,whether alcohol is present,whether a business deal involves interest (riba),whether a transaction looks like gambling or manipulation,how modesty and morality are expressed in public-facing products.
In other words, a Halal economy is an economy whose goods, services, banking, logistics, branding, tourism, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and trade practices are all filtered through Islamic compliance rules.
Now, is that wrong for Muslims? Absolutely not. In fact, Muslims are entitled — morally and constitutionally — to live according to their faith, do business according to their faith, eat according to their faith, and export according to their faith. That is freedom of religion.
A decent nation must protect that.
In Muslim-majority countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Pakistan, Halal is not just branding — it is national policy. The state defines what is Halal, enforces it, certifies it, and markets it to the world, because those states are built openly on Islamic foundations.
But Nigeria is not Saudi Arabia. Nigeria is not Malaysia. Nigeria is not an Islamic state.
Nigeria is a multi-faith federation. Nigeria is also a country where the Constitution — Section 10 — says the government of the Federation or of any State shall not adopt any religion as State religion. That is our guardrail. That is the rope holding this fragile tent together.
So let us reason together:
When the Federal Government of Nigeria describes Halal — a Sharia-grounded framework — as a “national pathway to prosperity,” is that still export positioning…
or is that quiet state endorsement of an Islamic model as Nigeria’s future?
And if it is the latter, has Section 10 not just been touched?
And if Section 10 is touched, is the peace of this country not being touched?
3. Boko Haram, Memory, and the Meaning of “No Haram”
Your Excellency, we cannot pretend amnesia.
You know, and your Vice President certainly knows, that Boko Haram declared war on “haram”. The very name “Boko Haram” was built on the claim that Western-style education — “boko,” book — is forbidden, “haram.” Their stated ideology was to erase what they called haram systems (schools, governance, gender freedom, certain laws) and replace them with an order that is, in their mind, purified — acceptable — Halal.
Do we still remember the 2014 abduction of 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok — a predominantly Christian community in Borno State — under the watch of the then Governor, now Vice President Kashim Shettima? Those girls were not just kidnapped, they were ideologically targeted. They were trophies in a war between what terrorists called “haram society” and what they wanted to impose as “Halal society.”
So let us ask a sobering question out loud:
When the Federal Government now elevates “Halal” as the new national economic language, have we thought carefully about the trauma this word carries in the Christian subconscious in the North-East and the Middle Belt?
Are we telling the wounded, “Don’t worry, this Halal is for export,” while using, in Aso Rock, the same religious vocabulary that terrorists used to justify their slaughter and abduction?
Perception is not a small thing. Perception is national security.
4. The Timing: A Dangerous Symbolism
We must confront the reality of today.
Your administration, Mr. President, came in on what Nigerians call the Muslim-Muslim ticket. You appealed to Nigerians to trust you — to believe that your government would not become a platform for religious imbalance. Many Christians — sometimes reluctantly, sometimes painfully — said, “Let us give him benefit of doubt.”
But what is the mood now?
Christian communities in Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna, Taraba and other flashpoints are weeping over killings they interpret as religiously targeted. Churches have been burned. Pastors have been executed. Families have been displaced. Widows and orphans are now statistics.
Ask yourself, sir:
Has this government ever, with the same Presidential energy that it is now investing in Halal, declared a National Programme for the Protection of Christian Communities Under Attack?
That programme does not exist.
Instead, what exists now is a plan to roll out Halal — loudly, nationally, ceremonially, from the very heart of power.
So what message reaches the streets?
“The Federal Government may not act to protect Christians from slaughter, but it is ready to act to promote Islamic-aligned commercial systems.”
Even if that is not what you intend, that is how it lands. And in a fragile federation, how it lands is what explodes.
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5. The Constitutional and Civic Risks
Let us move from emotion to law, because this is not just about feelings; it is about federal legitimacy.
Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) forbids the Federation or a State from adopting any religion as a State religion.
Section 38 protects freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the right to manifest and practice that religion.
Now consider these questions:
If federal agencies, ministries, ports, export zones, or funding windows begin to insist on Halal certification as the gold standard, is the state not quietly elevating Islamic compliance to a national benchmark?
If public funds are used to build Halal infrastructure as a “national pathway,” is that not the Federal Government privileging one faith’s commercial code for everyone’s prosperity story?
If investors discover that to benefit from certain incentives they must align with Sharia-friendly finance models (no interest, no “haram” lines of business), does that not amount to indirect compulsion?
At that point, this is no longer “Muslims practicing Islam.” This is “the Nigerian state mainstreaming Islamic compliance as national policy.”
That is unconstitutional.
And if it is unconstitutional, it becomes political.
And if it becomes political, it becomes combustible.
Let no one deceive you: there will be court challenges. There will be legislative resistance. There will be pulpit mobilization. There will be regional pushback from the South and Middle Belt. And yes, before 2027, there will be electoral consequences.
Is this truly the legacy you want attached to your names — that you pushed the Muslim-Muslim ticket too far, past prudence, past sensitivity, past constitutional safety?
Because after a point, sir, “boldness” starts answering a new name: “recklessness.”
And reckless, in a multi-faith federation, eventually answers yet another name: “impeachable.”
The National Assembly under Senate President Godswill Akpabio will have to decide, sooner or later, what constitutes a line-crossing offence when policy appears to impose religious norms nationally. If Halal is rolled out as national doctrine without legislative interrogation, are we not daring the legislature to either submit… or confront?
Is that where you want to drag the country — to a crisis between the Crescent and the Mace?
Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi
Apostle & Nation Builder
