A bill seeking to increase the educational qualification for
election into the office of the president has passed first reading at the house
of representatives.
The proposed legislation also seeks to raise the minimum
academic qualification for election as a governor, state and federal lawmaker.
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”.
But the new bill which is sponsored by Adewunmi Onanuga, a lawmaker from Ogun state, seeks to raise the qualification to at least a “university degree level or its equivalent”.
The development comes days after Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker
of the house, had said there is a need to amend the constitution to increase
the academic qualification for elective offices.
“I also sincerely believe 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 future
presidents of Nigeria and other top offices including the national assembly as
against the current minimum requirement of a secondary school certificate or
its equivalent,” Gbajabiamila had said.
“As we have reduced the age for eligibility to contest those
offices, so also, we should increase the minimum educational requirement. It
will be another step in reforming our electoral system and providing strong
leadership for the country.”
For these sections of the constitution to be amended, they
must be supported by 24 states houses of assembly.
Section 9 (2) of the constitution states that “an Act of the
National Assembly for the alteration of this Constitution, not being an Act to
which section 8 of this Constitution applies, shall not be passed in either
House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is supported by the votes of
not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of that House and approved
by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the
States”.
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