The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that will make first degree as the least academic qualification for Nigeria’s president, governors and other elective offices.
Adewumi Onanuga (Ogun APC) sponsored the bill which raises the qualification from school certificate to degree or its equivalent.
The legislation, which passed first reading on Tuesday last week and second reading this week, is titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, Cap. C23 Laws of the Federation 2004, to Review the Required Educational Qualification for Election into Certain Political Offices; and for Related Matters.’
The explanatory memorandum on the legislation reads, “This bill seeks to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, Cap. C23 Laws of the Federation 2004, to review the required educational qualification for election into certain political offices.”
The bill seeks to specifically alter Sections 65, 106, 131 and 177 of the constitution.
Leading the debate on the bill on Tuesday, Onanuga stated her belief that the proposal, if it becomes law, would “among other things, place more value on education in our nation and its importance when considering politics.”
The sponsor said, “This is not a bill targeted at stifling the interest of Nigerians in politics, rather it is a bill that will help Nigerians to sufficiently prepare for the humongous task of political leadership.
“As we have begun to see, the race for elective offices at the state and national levels has become increasingly competitive. While this is good as a tenet of universal suffrage, it can also be counterproductive if people who are not sufficiently prepared educationally get into these elective offices.
“All the political offices affected by this amendment are very strategic in their own right. The state legislators are important for making laws to govern the state in the interest of the people. The office of the governor is the highest political office in the state. The federal legislators are important for making laws in the interest of the nation. The office of the president is the highest political office in the land.”
The sponsor stressed that studying up to a university degree anywhere in the world would have afforded any individual certain other knowledge, skills and preparedness that cannot be gotten at a School Certificate level.
“This is not saying that only those with a university degree can lead well; all we will be saying is that we will rather start from there. And I believe we can all agree that a university degree is a good place to benchmark the educational qualification into certain political offices. To agree otherwise will in the long run do our polity and youths a great disservice.
“The bill, therefore, proposes to review upward to a minimum of university degree, the required educational qualification of some elective offices within the country,” she noted.
