The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has advocated 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.
Mr Gbajabiamila, who spoke on Monday 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.
He spoke on the theme; “Building Back Better: Creating a New Framework for Tertiary Education in Nigeria in the 21st Century.”
“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.
“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,” he said.
Noting that Nigeria is faced with another election come 2023, Mr Gbajabiamila said prior to the 2019 elections, the national assembly succeeded in amending the Constitution to effect the ‘Not Too Young to Run’ demand of the youth and ensure the eligibility of young people to aspire to high offices in the land by reducing the eligible age for political offices.
A member of the 1983 set of the university’s faculty of Law, the speaker, added that the foundations of Nigeria’s educational system “are still rooted in a different age and designed to meet the social, economic and labour demands of a different societal and economic model.”
On education funding
The guest lecturer also spoke on the challenges of funding education in Nigeria, insisting that the current model that allows institutions to live on subventions from the government is not sustainable.
He said the National Assembly is currently looking into a new model of tertiary education funding that will grant loans to brilliant but indigent students and how such interest-free loans could be repaid.
“And then, there is the issue of how we finance tertiary education in Nigeria. This is an area of much controversy, which is understandable in a country such as ours. However, two things remain true.
“The first is that building the kind of institutions we need and desire will require significant investments. Secondly, the current approach is neither adequate nor sustainable as it heavily depends on subventions from the federal and state governments.
“Therefore, we must agree to use the instruments of policy and legislation to advance a new framework for funding tertiary education in our country.
“Ideally, this new system should provide funding for all students who qualify so that the burden of school fees and living expenses can be deferred and paid over a period. It must also ensure that the institutions themselves get paid for their services so that resources are available to operate effectively.”
Mr Gbajabiamila explained how the House of Representatives hopes to intervene through a legislative framework for funding tertiary education through student loans.
“We will continue in that effort until we successfully design a system that suitably addresses our concerns and meets our needs. As a politician, one of the most frequent requests I receive is for funding for tertiary education of otherwise bright students who cannot further their education due to (the) lack of funds. One way this can be addressed is through a well-structured student loan policy as is seen in many countries of the world,” he said.
He said the draft legislation, which he noted is titled “Access to Higher Education Bill,” and being personally sponsored by him, sets out to provide interest-free loans to students, saying “the repayment of these loans shall commence two years after completion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.”
He, therefore, sought the understanding and support of the public on the bill, adding that “public support for any such system will depend significantly on the tertiary institutions themselves.”
The lecture is one of the major activities that have been lined up to mark the university’s 52nd convocation ceremonies which kicked off last week with a press conference addressed by the vice-chancellor, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.
The lecture, which was chaired by a justice of Nigeria’s supreme court, Amina Augie, while the chairman of the university’s governing council, Lanre Tejuosho, was among the many dignitaries that graced the occasion.
