Reviewing Academic Qualifications for Political Office Holders

Many Nigerians have called for the review of the minimum educational qualifications for persons aspiring to be president, vice president, governors, deputies and other political office holders, to raise the bar for governance in Nigeria, Vanessa Obioha reports

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila recently stirred the hornet’s nest when he called for constitutional review of the educational qualifications of public office holders from secondary school certificates.

Gbajabiamila made this call while delivering the 52nd convocation lecture of the University of Lagos titled: ‘Building Back Better: Creating a New Framework for Tertiary Education in Nigeria in the 21st Century.’ His suggestion was in tandem with the general agitation for quality education in the country.

He argued that “the National Assembly needs to look into Section 131 (d) of the 1999 Constitution with a view to increasing the minimum educational qualification for persons aspiring to be Presidents of Nigeria and other top offices, including the National Assembly, as against the current minimum educational requirement.”

In vying for the positions of president, vice president, governors, deputy governors Senate, members of House of Representatives and even chairman of local governments in Nigeria, the constitution stipulates that the aspirant must be educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent, apart from being a citizen of the country.

Specifically, Sections 65, 106, 131 and 177 of the 1999 Constitution state that a person must be qualified for election into the aforementioned elective offices if he/she “has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent”.

This has been the status quo for political office holders in a country where academic qualification matters more for any corporate position but less when it comes to occupying political offices.

While a school of thought sees no anomaly in the constitutionally set standard, another feels the time is long overdue for a review of such standard, believing that it may bring a turnaround in the country’s developmental quest.

Though many had acknowledged that possessing higher educational qualifications does not guarantee good governance and leadership, as character and integrity are paramount, others had argued that people of great intellect should be given a chance to govern.

Those who spoke to THISDAY argued that it is strange that Nigeria with over 170 universities and over 120 polytechnics, has the school certificate as the minimum educational requirement for public officeholders.

They maintained that if higher educational qualification is needed to employ an individual that would take up a particular responsibility in a given organisation, then a double of such level of education should be recommended for those saddled with the responsibility of administering the states and the nation.

Barely a month after Gbajabiamila made the call, a bill seeking to raise the educational qualification for election into the office of the president and governor surfaced in the House of Representatives.

The bill passed the second reading at the House. Simultaneously, the Constitution amendment bill, which passed first reading last Tuesday, also seeks to raise the minimum academic qualification for election as a governor, state and federal legislator.

The new bill, which is sponsored by Hon. Adewunmi Onanuga, a lawmaker from Ogun State, seeks to raise the qualification to at least a “university degree level or its equivalent”.

Speaking on the floor of the House during plenary on Tuesday, Onanuga said raising the minimum educational requirement for these political positions will better prepare candidates for the job ahead.

“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,” she said.

“As we have begun to see, the race for elective offices at both 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.

“If a managing director, who holds an equally strategic position in a company within this country, cannot be employed without a university degree or its equivalent, why should the above political offices be held by people without a university degree or its equivalent?

“We all know that after a university degree or its equivalent in this country, comes the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), without which it would be difficult to get into any employment especially within the public sector.

“Invariably, by leaving the qualification of these political offices to remain at school certificate level, we are implying that the NYSC is not a requirement to hold political offices but it is a requirement to secure a job in the public sector.

“Otherwise, how do we place value on education if I say to my son who wants to be a doctor that he needs a university degree or its equivalent to achieve his dream and then say to my daughter who wants to be a president someday that she only needs to have a school certificate?”

The legislator said the bill, when passed into law, will affect the quality of candidates who run for elective offices in the country. She added that studying up to a university level would afford a candidate the knowledge, skills and preparedness that cannot be obtained at the school certificate level.

A non-governmental organisation, Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, is among those campaigning for upgrading the educational qualifications of political officeholders.

Irrespective of what the constitution says, the group said the time has come for all stakeholders to come together and brainstorm on upgrading the academic qualifications of political office holders in the interest of the country.

Specifically, the group urged the National Assembly to look into the matter and act on it by way of a constitutional amendment or enactment of a new law. Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the group, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, argued that there was an urgent need “to mandatorily, constitutionally and statutorily raise the qualification for the seats of the president, governors and their deputies in Nigeria to master’s degree.

“It amounts to racing back to the cave from being Africa’s cradle of knowledge for Nigeria’s seats of presidential and gubernatorial powers to be cheaply occupied by persons without physically proven or certified educational certificates or qualifications.

“It is further insulting beyond quantification to the modern day knowledgeable world for the offices of the president and governor in Nigeria to be allowed to be occupied by persons with ordinary secondary school or primary school certificates-whereas in other social climes, such are occupied by professors and doctorate holders with unassailable charisma.”

He continued: “Ignorance and stark illiteracy must never be allowed a space over knowledge and ideas in the country’s corridors of power. As a jurisprudential tradition in the world over, judicial blunders and disasters such as the instant case arising from apex and appellate decided cases are periodically remedied by ways of constitutional amendments or enactment of new laws to take care of such judicial blunders or disasters. We hereby call on the National Assembly of Nigeria to act on the above without further delays.”