Reps to increase educational qualification of elective offices.
The House of Representatives members have begun a process that seeks to increase the educational qualification of elective positions in the country.
The bill which seeks to increase the minimum academic qualification for election offices of a President, governor, state and federal lawmaker. The bill passed its first reading at the lower chamber of the national assembly.
While 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”, 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”.