Benjamin Mzondu, a
member of the house of representatives from Benue state, has introduced a bill
seeking to raise the academic qualification for election into the office of the
president.
The constitution
alteration bill on ‘educational qualification for certain political offices’
passed first reading at the house’ plenary session on Thursday.
Mzondu told TheCable
on Friday that the piece of proposed legislation seeks to provide a
post-secondary school qualification for the office of the president and that of
governor.
The lawmaker, who
represents Makurdi/Guma federal constituency, said the amendment is being made
to fill in the gap in the constitution regarding academic qualifications.
Section 131 (chapter
VI) of the constitution states that a person may be qualified for election into
the office of the president if among others things, “they have been educated up
to at least school certificate level or its equivalent”.
“The constitution
does not give an explicit qualification for the office of president,” Mzondu
said
“We want to define
it properly. If it is secondary, it is; if it is university, it is. It is
seeking to fill the gap.
“I am proposing (in
the bill) that the president should have at least a diploma after secondary
education. There should be a post-secondary school education that should be
added.”
Mzondu added that in
the absence of academic qualifications, the requirement for a presidential
candidate “could be a post secondary school experience of at least 20 years of
working in the public sector”.
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