Certificates issued by the National Board of Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) are not inferior to West Africa Certificate Examination (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) certificates.
The Special Assistant to the registrar of the board, Ustaz Abdul-Lateef Adekilekun, said this on Monday in Osogbo.
Adekilekun said in spite of the long history of the board and its recognition by the Federal Government, most tertiary institutions in the country were not accepting the use of its certificate for admission.
He said tertiary institutions in Nigeria need more awareness on the authenticity and acceptability of the certificate.
“The board was initially established as the Board of Arabic and Islamic Studies (BAIS) in 1960, mainly for Northern Nigeria.
“In 1967, the board was transferred to the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) as a result of the creation of states.
“However, in 2011, after 40 years of existence under ABU, the board became national and was recognised by the Federal Ministry of Education as an examination board.
“The board became equivalent to WAEC and NECO, with its headquarters in Kaduna,” he said, adding that in 2017, the board became autonomous like WAEC, NECO and that the certificate was internationally recognised.
“Due to Federal Government and National University Commission (NUC) directives, the NBAIS certificate is being accepted by many universities in the North and some in the South.
“But its acceptability is not as expected in spite of its approval by the Federal Government and NUC,” he said.
Adekilekun, who noted that the board was out to blend Arabic education with Western education, said that 26 states in Nigeria were writing NBAIS examinations with 1,200 affiliated schools spread across the country.
He also said both Christians and Muslims attending the school studied Islamic and Arabic studies with all other conventional subjects such as Mathematics, English and others.
