NIGERIA’S EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION INTO ELECTIVE PUBLIC OFFICES

March 9, 2022

This is “No Bullshiting,” by Harry Agina.

Greetings, folks!

The United States of America has had 46 presidents so far. The first was George Washington (April 30, 1789 to March 3, 1797), and the current and 46th president is Joe Biden. Yeah, I know that you know all that already. But, did you know that twelve out of those 46 presidents did not have any college or university degrees? Did you know that the father of them all, the first president, George Washington, and the 17th president, Andrew Johnson, did not even have any formal education at all? They never entered the four walls of any school, meeeeeeen!!!

Yet, Washington still remains the most respected and the most appreciated president of America, ‘til date. And, Johnson didn’t do so badly either. Well, in case you didn’t know, now I’m telling ya. This is a country where wisdom and performance is the key in leadership, and not what a fucking piece of paper called degree says. Especially not when a lot of people purchase the so-called degrees these days, with little or no knowledge to match what the paper says.

You do know that I must be going somewhere with this line of discourse; right? Um huh, I am! I want to talk about a Constitutional Amendment Bill currently being considered at Nigeria’s Parliament. The loot-makers who are called lawmakers want to change the educational requirement in Nigeria for political elective offices. The current minimum requirement to be elected as president or governor, and other offices, is Secondary School Certificate. Now, the lootmakers want to increase it to university degree certificate, meeeeeeen!!!

My attention was drawn to this a couple of days back. I watched on TV, a story of a Nigerian lawyer who is challenging this planned legislation in court. He is asking the court to stop it. I hail the lawyer for this move, because I disagree with the bill.

Nigeria’s democracy was fundamentally fashioned after the American model. I do agree that Nigeria does not necessarily have to follow every provision of America’s constitution. Yes, certain laws should put the peculiarities of Nigeria and Africa into consideration. But, by Jupiter, we must learn to follow some key sensible principles of our model. We should not continue to bastardize good elements of the American democratic model that we have copied. When we change anything, we should do so on the basis of being inappropriate for our peculiar socio-cultural environment. We should not make nonsensical changes at the whim and caprices of the few lootmakers in our parliament. We should resist them, especially for the fact that most of their caprices are self-serving.

There are three or four basic requirements to become the president of America, and education is not one of them. Indeed, there is no educational requirement to become American president, period! Americans have more interest in what the person can do, and not what a piece of paper says. A candidate must be a natural born US citizen; must have been a resident of the US for at least 14 years; and must be at least 35 years of age. These requirements are laid out in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the US Constitution. There is no maximum age limit. The framers of the American constitution deemed it wise that if a person can still perform optimally at age 100, then so be it. That may mean that he or she is a super human. Let the American people decide if the candidate is capable, by either voting him/her into office, or out. The younger generations may displace the “old cargoes” if they can. The enabling system is much better than the Nigerian system, as long as they have the capacity. Of course, it follows that governors’ and other offices are similar in qualification requirements, albeit with variations in the various states.

          The minimum age limit of 35 for presidents is now being reconsidered in discussions. Americans are questioning it, because they believe that it makes no sense. They argue, sensibly, that a person below 35 years can actually make a perfect president, if there was anything like perfect leader. They insist that the key requirements of a candidate include  the acumen, and other capabilities to perform as a president. And, many humans attain all those qualities before age 35.

          So far, the oldest person to become president of the United States is the current one, Joe Biden. He was aged 78 at the time of his inauguration in 2021. And, the youngest so far was Theodore Roosevelt. He was 42 when he became president on September 14, 1901, and exited office on March 4, 1909, at age 50..

I have said all the foregoing, just to make the point that, too often, Nigerian leaders these days are full of shit in making decisions. This is not surprising, considering the fact that most of them were not elected by the people. They rigged themselves into the offices, and they are not qualified to be leaders. They often leave what is right, and make much ado about nothing. The lootmakers who we call lawmakers are doing it again, as usual. They leave all the sections of Nigeria’s constitution that require amendment, to pursue some nonsensical amendments. For instance, the motherfuckers have just thrown out progressive gender equity bills. Instead, their stupid interest lies in increasing educational requirement for election into political leadership offices.

          Do remember that we can’t even control the Secondary School Certificate requirement that we currently have. Certificate forgery is rife in the polity, and some of our leaders do not possess the educational qualifications that they claim. I tell ya, if the person is a great leader, I don’t really give a fuck about his or her certificates.

          In fact, the matter of our current president’s Secondary School Certificate is yet to be resolved satisfactorily. But I don’t really give a damn about that School Certificate scandal. The man has gone through all the tasking training as a military man, up to the rank of an Army General. As far as I am concerned, it is stupid to say that he is not qualified to be president. That particular segment of the constitution should be revised. It should state that long military training should equal, and even surpass Secondary School Certificate.

          The fact that Buhari has actually performed woefully ain’t got shit to do with his education. He just happens to be a terrible leader, shikena (that’s all)! I do know, that you do know, that I ain’t bullshiting ya, meeeeeeeeeeen!!!

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