By Gloria Ikibah
The House of Representatives on Tuesday stepped down a bill seeking to change the minimum requirement for the office of President , Vice President, National Assembly members and other political office from first school leaving certificate to degree or its equivalent.
This was sequel to the passage of a bill sponsored by Rep. Adewunmi Onanuga on Tuesday at plenary.
The bill was titled: “A Bill for an Act to Alter the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) to change the Educational Qualification for Elections into Certain Political Offices and for Related Matters”.
Debating on the general principles of the bill, Onanuga called on the House to look critically into educational qualification of political office holder stating that Nigeria has moved passed school leaving certificate as the minimum requirement to contest political office, adding that degree or it’s equivalent should be made minimum requirement.
Speaking in favour of the bill, Babajimi Benson from (Lagos state) said: “Anyone who is going to oppose this bill should tell if his son or daughter is in the university or not. I can’t believe that in this modern age some people will say don’t go to school but yet go and be the president”.
Professor Julius Ihonvbare said: “We all know what the world is today. A world were knowledge is power, we see leaders of other nations who make excellent presentation but here we have leaders dodging debate .I don’t think this requirement should apply to all political offices, for local government it might not be required but for President , Vice National Assembly members should be required to own a degree”.
For Rep. Leke Abejide, “The world has moved, Nigeria should not be left behind, We put a mediocre to head an important political office we will end up in disaster.
Rep. Alfred Iliah, added that educational qualification is very important and the bedrock of every society. According to him, qualification of every National Assembly members should be looked into if the country must make progress.
Rep. Mustapha Aliyu from (Sokoto ), stated that the amendment was long overdue. He added: “Education is bedrock the development of any society. For those contesting for executive seat should have a degree, however the jump from leaving school to degree is too wide, I will propose that there should be middle course”.
Shetimma lawal from (Borno) said that the requirement for Governance should cut across all level from the highest to the lowest .
He added: “For politicians we are only providing leadership, political offices should be categorized”.
Rep. Kingsley Chinda, House Minority Leader, while endorsing the bill, remarked on the declining standard of education, stating that raising educational requirements would motivate Nigerian youth. He emphasized the importance of backing this effort wholeheartedly.
“Why do we say a primary school holder should be given . We should do the right thing”, he said.
Speaking against the bill, Aliyu Madaki from (Kano), said the leadership quality of a political office holder is not determined by your level of education .
“What ever we are trying to do is for all Nigerians. I have an MBA in Financial Management but restricting other with qualifications will not carry all Nigerians along . All Nigerians should be allowed to participate and exercise their leadership qualities.
Bashir Sokoto from (Sokoto) said, “We were privilege to go to university, but we have less privilege Nigerians who cannot afford to go to the university. I propose that we allow minimum requirement for political office holders to remain school cert”.
Hon Ahmed Jaha from Borno said passing the bill will negatively affect some section of the country, he insisted that educational qualification was not a true taste of knowledge.
“Qualification alone is not a true taste of knowledge . We are doing laws for good governance and for peace in this country. We will not do laws that will favour only a few number of Nigerians . How many Nigerians are degree holders America that we refer to have done greatly in educating its citizens’s but here in Nigeria how what have we done in improving our education system”, he stated. .
Also speaking against the bill, Inuwa Garba from (Gombe ) said “the mover of this bill is not aware of what is happening in some part of this country.
“Some schools in some part of the country have been shot down for a while now. Certificate is not true test of knowledge
The bill is discriminatory against some people”.
The bill was therefore stepped down after a heated debate by the presiding officer Hon Banjamin Kalu.