Kaduna’s no-nonsense governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai wants all preachers to be licensed.

He has introduced a bill to the state parliament to tame what officials say is the proliferation of religious sects and ministries. 

Kaduna has a Muslim majority but also has a large Christian population - and has witnessed conflict between rival religious and ethnic groups. 

But many Christian pastors and Islamic scholars in the northern Nigerian state are now united in their opposition to the proposed law. 

Such regulation may become the norm across the north after governors from many northern states gave it their backing at a meeting last week - but it would have to be passed by each state assembly before it became law. 

The market is so flooded with preachers that they compete by advertising with posters, billboards and in the classified sections of newspapers.

Most of them promise miracles - "Fifteen-year chest pain cleared out via anointing" and "Five years barrenness destroyed” - are some of the examples.

Some say that the inability of successive governments to provide basic social services often pushes Nigerians of all religious persuasions to resort to miracles for help.