A bill seeking to increase the minimum educational qualification for Nigeria’s President and other elective offices has passed the second reading at the House of Representatives.
Representative Adewunmi Onanuga (APC, Ogun) had sponsored the bill which hopes to amend the 1999 Constitution and raise the qualification from school certificate to degree or its equivalent.
The bill seeks to amend Sections 65, 106, 131 and 171 of the 1999 Constitution.
In leading the debate on the bill, Onanuga said the school certificate is not sufficient to rule the country.
According to her, it was curious that to qualify for employment as senior cadres in Nigerian civil service, an applicant must be a holder of the National Youth Service Corps certificate.
She noted that the applicant must already be a graduate as only graduates went for NYSC deployment.
This is even as she explained that it was strange that a person seeking to lead the whole country, including the graduate, was required to possess only a senior secondary school certificate or its equivalent.
The bill was read for the second time without any debate.
This is coming few weeks after the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabimila, called for the review of the country’s existing law which pegs the minimum educational qualification for aspirants to the presidency and other elective positions at senior secondary school certificate or its equivalent.
Gbajabiamila, who spoke at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, as the university’s 52nd convocation lecturer, said Section 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution, which speaks to the minimum educational requirement for presidency, does not align with the current realities and needs of the modern times.
