ABUJA, September 13, 2026 — In a notable appeal for national unity, the Gospel Reggae Team Initiative has declared that being Christian should never automatically translate into a demand for religious quotas in Nigeria’s public institutions.
The Christian organisation made the position public while responding to concerns attributed to the Abuja Chapter of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) regarding the recently released admission list for the 78 Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
GRTI said it was particularly concerned about attempts to judge the fairness of the NDA admission process primarily by comparing the number of Christians and Muslims admitted.
For the organisation, Christianity should encourage Nigerians to seek justice, fairness and national peace rather than turn every public institution into a religious competition.
Mr Odoh Diego Okenyodo, a trustee of GRTI, said the Nigerian Defence Academy is not a Christian institution and is not a Muslim institution.
“It belongs to Nigeria,” he said, stressing that its responsibility is to train Nigerians who will serve the Nigerian state.
GRTI believes this principle should apply equally to every Nigerian.
A Christian candidate should be admitted because he or she meets the requirements. A Muslim candidate should receive the same opportunity. Nigerians of other faiths should equally be judged by the same objective standards.
The organisation therefore rejects the idea that Muslims should receive preferential treatment simply because they are Muslims, just as it rejects the idea that Christians should receive preferential treatment because they are Christians.
Instead, it is calling for a system where competence, character, discipline and national commitment remain central.
GRTI also emphasised that legitimate concerns about the NDA process should not be dismissed.
If anyone believes the admission exercise violated published criteria, recruitment policies or applicable law, those concerns should be presented with evidence and investigated transparently.
The organisation, however, cautioned against making religious assumptions without evidence.
It questioned how religious identities were established in determining whether the admission list was balanced and warned that reducing national recruitment to Christian-Muslim calculations could distract from more important questions about qualifications and fairness.
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GRTI’s appeal extends beyond the current NDA controversy.
The organisation believes repeated attempts to introduce religious considerations into appointments, recruitment and admissions could gradually place pressure on government institutions to prioritise religious identity over competence and national loyalty.
This, it says, would be particularly dangerous in the security sector.
Nigeria’s strength, according to GRTI, lies in its diversity—not in eliminating that diversity, but in ensuring that different faiths and communities can coexist within shared national institutions.
Founder/Coordinator Lucy Peters Awe said the Gospel Reggae Team Initiative remains committed to peace, national unity and responsible citizenship.
The organisation’s message offers a different kind of Christian intervention in Nigeria’s public debate: not a demand for religious advantage, but an appeal for fairness that applies equally to everyone.
