The motion, introduced by Sulaiman Gumi, called for the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), a regulatory body, to exercise its "statutory responsibility to vet educational materials" before being used in Nigerian schools. The motion was adopted by the lawmakers on Thursday during plenary.
Gumi claimed that the book uses terms like "gay" and "eros" and that there has been a hidden effort to introduce materials that promote "immoral culture" into Nigerian primary and secondary schools.
Gumi claimed that Queen Primier "subtly introduces terms like 'gay,' 'eros,' etc. that communize sexual perversion and immoral behavior, thus exposing innocent children to terms inappropriate for their age, which is illegal, unethical, highly immoral, and contrary to child upbringing."
The LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, pansexual) group is now prohibited by Nigerian law.
On January 7, 2014, the same-sex marriage prohibition act was ratified by former president Goodluck Jonathan. The maximum sentence for breaking the statute is 14 years in prison.
The LGBTQ community has reportedly been active in various regions of the nation despite the Same-Sex Prohibition Act's existence.
According to some LGBTQ activists, regulations that limit and stigmatize them violate their right to freedom of association. The Nigerian police in 2019 told them “Nigeria is not a place for you” while reminding them of the consequences of violating the law.
In all educational institutions, the lawmaker stated, it is necessary to "protect moral values in children and society at large by resisting the use of educational materials that teach or promote any form of alien behavior that violates the laws and moral values."
There is a covert attempt to "catch young people young" through the books, according to a different legislator, Bello El-Rufai. He revealed that because his daughter had been using the book, he had to remove her from a primary school in Abuja.
"An Act exists, and its provisions are unambiguous. I'll get personal now and tell you that I transferred my kid out of a nursery school where I discovered that they had approved the sharing of that book, El-Rufai said. I won't give the school's name here for obvious reasons.
Ben Kalu, the deputy speaker who oversaw the plenary session, stated in his contribution that the parliament has a duty to safeguard Nigerians and future generations.
Isaka Ibrahim attributed the nation's "moral decadence" to the forcible absorption of schools by foreign missionaries.
The House of Representatives called for a complete prohibition on the local manufacture, importation, and use of any educational materials that teach or advocate for LGBTQ+ issues in schools in its resolution to the federal, state, and local administrations.
The MPs' resistance to the book is their most recent act of protest against LGBTQ+-related issues in Nigeria. Even Nevertheless, the LGBTQ+ community in Nigeria has looked at legal options to secure recognition and protection of its "rights."
Attempts by Nigerian lesbian Pamela Adie to register a lesbian organization in the nation were rejected by an Abuja federal high court in November 2018.
After her application to register a group called "Lesbian Equality and Empowerment Initiatives" was denied because it violated a Nigerian legislation that forbids same-sex marriage, Pamela Adie sued the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
According to Nigerian homosexual activist Bisi Alimi, it may take another five years before a legislation recognizing LGBT rights is passed there. It may also take another ten to fifteen years for a law recognizing same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights.
Then perhaps another 20 years would pass before a same-sex marriage statute was passed. Alimi stated to The Guardian UK in 2016 that "it's not going to happen in the next 50 or 60 years, but we have to start today.