 Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Bajabiamila has stressed the need for the National Assembly to raise the minimum educational qualification for presidential aspirants of Nigeria. The Speaker said there is also a need to increase the minimum educational qualification for other top officers, including the National Assembly, as against the current minimum requirement of secondary school certificate or its equivalent. Well, joining us to discuss this is political analyst Babashala Dewey and legal practitioner Barista Tungi Abdullah Mead. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for joining us. It's a pleasure to have you again. Absolutely, yeah, interesting. Thank you for having me. I'm going to dance with you, Babashala, because you have run for office before and I do not know what your qualifications are, but I'm wondering why now? Some people will say it's better late than never. Some people will say it's just one of those interesting statements that are made by politicians when it's leading up to elections, just to be politically correct. But is there substance to what the Speaker has said? Well, I think the Speaker has actually spoken well, whether it's helped or not, but the truth is it is absurd to have a school certificate holder as a president or a governor or someone controlling the economy or the political affairs of this nation. Because for me, I, for this generation, at this century, I don't know what the school certificate will do. We have a lot of graduates, we have a lot of PhD holders, we have a lot of professors who are outside there, and the school certificate holder will be controlling the affairs of these people who have actually gone through schools, acquired knowledge, are able to impact knowledge, but the school certificate holder somewhere is sitting down, controlling the affairs of these people. I think it is high time or totally for us to actually change that particular position for any office holder in this nation. But people that are making reference to, they went to school, they acquired knowledge, they are impacting knowledge. But then the knowledge they acquired might be in mathematics, it might be in geometry, it might be in medical sciences. That does not qualify them to lead people in a country, does it? Should a piece of paper be what qualifies you to lead a country of almost, if not more than 200 million people? Is that just it? Is that what you need to be a leader? You are a piece of paper. There are so many requirements that must be required for any office seekers. But certificates on the level of your education matters a lot. The representative of a country can only be recognized, or be identified, or the quality of a country can only be on this high level if the person representing that country has a quality education. In this world of today, ranking investing is not the world of investing. Now, you will discover that Nigerian investing is 1,190, that's the highest. So if a Nigerian investing is 1,196 worldwide, ask me, what does the school of the school search hold up? Where does it fix it? In the world of today, at least any country you go to with Nigerian certificates to secure of a job in any country without you going through their home because they have seen the Nigerian certificate as something that is not of quality. So what talk less of someone who has a wife who has no knowledge about what the world is about in this current age? And you are telling me that person should be the president, should be the governor or someone to direct the affairs of national assembly? We need to look into that. It's like the first time I think was 1979 that the school search certificate was actually introduced in the Nigerian constitution. Even in 1963, it was not stated. But in 1979, they actually stated the school search hold up. But it's 79 up to this high, up to today, we are talking of about 43 years. It means that if you are not ready to move away from work, it shows that we are not ready to move forward. So for me, the speaker of the House of Assembly has spoken well. OK. So this is this is for you. He's making an interesting point here, saying that if we must move forward, then we need to also upgrade in terms of educational qualifications. But there is a space for experience. I mean, let's use Mr. President Bahamad-e-Buhari as a case study here. He's had great experience at leadership. It's not his first time. He has been in the military and he's he's seen the world. This is contrary to what I was saying about not knowing how the world works. But this man has and I'm not in any way saying that this qualifies him as a good leader or a bad leader, but he does have experience. So where is the place of experience other than a piece of paper? Because I could have a master's in something in human psychology. Does that make me fit for a president or a speaker of a member of the National Assembly or even a governor to governor state? I think I think in as much as I'm not condemning the experience or knowledge, I think the qualification in terms of paper going beyond the scores is very, very vital and very, very important. It makes a lot of difference when you go through the world, the world of investors. That being at that investment alone, the kind of experience we gather is enough for you to even be for to improve your intelligence. I'm not saying those who don't go to investment don't have experience. We have seen youth core members who have graduated, who spent five four years in universities, and they are admitted into a place of work and they're incapable of doing anything. And you wonder if these people really passed through the walls of a university. So again, of course, the university says that you've graduated in character and in learning, but half the time when you look at some of these people that have been churned out from universities, you really wonder if they did attend universities. So really, should we again be looking at that piece of paper or other things? I will see me there. We need to look at it because your IQ will be highly improved if you go through the four walls of the university. Now, I'm not saying some people are not they still went to university and see not intelligent enough. That does not mean everybody doubts in the gates for that certificate of going beyond the executive school is not good enough to determine who will be coming. And in that as much as what we're talking about, what we're talking about here is not only the certificate we're talking about the other qualification that we can be back. We're saying one of the minimum qualifications should be you be going beyond the university and the secondary school level. It is a problem for you to have a country where you have about 20 million people and then you will now look for somebody who is not even enough, did not go beyond the secondary school to lead the entire country. How will you understand the economic theory in the system? How will you understand the other policies and that has been doled out by the economies to experience? Cannot move away. But now we're standing, they call your qualification, academic qualification will help you in a great way to understand the system and to understand how to move the country forward and to be able to play leadership that will move the country forward. I see that when you want to look for a job, not even the president of the country, the minimum qualification, as of you, is either university or both. And then the experience will be something thereafter. They will not even ask for that. So you must have that minimum qualification first. That's what I'm saying. We're not saying that certificate should be the basic requirement. It must be the minimum qualification because you see that there's no way you will not see the effect of somebody who has not gone to university being in a leadership position. There will be that deficiency will be there and you will see it. So there will be that difference in the between those who have gone to school and those who are all just left a secondary school. I'm not saying no, I'm not. We were talking about the secondary school of the old. Yes, you can say, we can say yes. They know we stand in the secondary school. It's like a university of today, some of them. But today, university is very, very jammed. Second school today is like a not even primary, not even equal to primary school of the of the old. So we need to go beyond the school services and to call that law as a time it was made. That was what was what was relevant at that time. But today, that is no longer that law is a cake and it must be changed. And I wonder why it took the speaker this long for him to realize that that particular aspect of our law should be changed because I was expecting that that should be part of the the amendment that they are proposing now. Now that that will not be part of the amendment. We have to wait again and then analyze that. Look, the those who are not with certificate and kind of invested degree will be our maybe our leader and maybe in control of the country. We are we have so many professionals, so many doctors, so many people who are intelligent in terms of education. I'm not saying those who don't go to the university are not intelligent. I'm talking about books now. The more you go to school, the more you get more experience and the more you get more knowledge. So going to school and having a more certificate is even in the crown army Muslim, it was said that look to see for knowledge, even as fast China. So it is that that that that that shows the importance of it. It came from the data to go into school. So I think the speaker is on point and I'm in total agreement with the speaker. Let me come back to you, the speaker, I would like to quote him. He did say something about raising the minimum educational qualifications being a step in reforming the nation's electoral system. How does that? How do those two go together? Yes, we have all just agreed that it's important to have that piece of paper. But that how does that reform the electoral system? Again, what changes will it bring in terms of leadership, in terms of truth, sincerity and promises kept? Well, before I come to that, I would like to talk more about that. School certificate, second district certificate. Even if even in the constitution, it is not stated the requirement. Someone will serve for our head or neck and as F9 is who served for that. It means that such person can contest can contest for any election in this country. So for me, as I said, we are good to that. However, it does not actually determine the leadership or the kind of leadership we have. It all depends on the individual who is holding that position. A lot of people are actually occupied position today. But despite the fact that they have all the qualifications, we are not seeing that changes the impact in the Nigerian economy, in the Nigerian security, in Nigeria, generally. So based on what you said, the qualification is a basic thing that must be required. Every other thing is not depends on what each of them possess. As in each person contesting for that position possesses before the electorates can vote for them. So the leadership is important. The exposure of that person is important. The position of the participants of the person contesting for any position is also important. But the basic one must be the qualification of the certificate. You put says before contesting for that position. OK, I'm going to toss the same question to you, Tungi. But then again, when it's leading up to elections like this, we see we're bombarded with all kinds of conversations. And sometimes these conversations are a distraction from what should be and what our attention should be focused on. So for the average voter, other than the the requirements or the paper qualifications, what should the average voter be looking out for? Because I mean, the time is now. We're seeing every Tom, Dick and Harry trying to throw their hat into the ring to run for one office at the other. What should the average voter be aware of? I think every vote has to be looking for. Photos will be looking for a candidate with a capacity in terms of knowledge, in terms of exposure, in terms of a good ex and in terms of intelligence in identifying issues and finding solutions to those issues. So we need a candidate that will be able to solve our problems. We need to ask questions and know their economy policy, know their policy, education policies. We need a candidate that will be able to give us an answer to what our problems are today. So we should go beyond looking at his integrity, his honest, his whatever. Is it the ability of the capacity? Because integrity is not true in the country. You must have capacity. And that is the kind of thing we are looking for now. Having been a school certificate is not enough for you to be qualified to run the country. You must have that qualification. So you must have that intelligence. You must have that capacity. You must be able to look at problems and find solutions to them. You must be able to act with speed and then the age must also be looking to. So that that person will not be able to deal with those problems. And then we must look at the answer to that. We've seen people who are way older than some of the leaders we've had in this country, outside the country. And these people, their age has not been a problem whatsoever. I think one of the oldest people in government in the US is, I think as at 2016 was about 80-something years old. And his constituents have been very happy with his job. So does age really matter? Is it the intent of the person and also carrying out all the promises that they made? In our situation that you can't compare us with those people who are not in a bad situation. Why not? The system is already on place. The system there, we even check you if you're not doing well, if you're going to do well, the system will help you to even do well. Here we don't have the system in place. We have people, once we have a president in this country, that president is Alpha and Omega. It determines everything. We try to regard to the system or the structure on grant. It determines everything. So when you have that kind of system, you must have somebody who can determine what is good and what is right and you can take decision that will benefit the country. So comparing our country with those countries, I think we are making a mistake in that regard. If you have 100 years a president that you will not be doing what our president here will be required to do, because certain things are already in place which will not require him at all to even do anything. And which will take care of itself, unlike in our country, where the president or whoever is in charge must do something before anything can happen. All right, it looks like we have our job cut out for us, even the National Assembly. But then who is in the National Assembly? These are all politicians. But I want to say thank you, Baba Shala Degwi is a political analyst and of course, Tungi Abdul Amid is a lawyer. Thank you gentlemen for being part of this conversation. Thank you, man. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you all for staying with us. We leave you with what Nigerians have to say on the issue of educational qualifications for presidential candidates. It's been plus politics. And of course, don't forget, you can watch a replay of this segment on our YouTube channels, which is Plus TV Africa and Plus TV Africa Lifestyle. I am Mary Annakul. Thanking you for watching. See you tomorrow. I could say that Kul Krishan does not really matter. It matters in a way, but what matters most is if the person have a leadership quality. Leadership quality is what we're actually looking out for and the people that will take us to the next level. So irrespective of qualification, once any of the presidential aspirants has the leadership quality to be able to lead the country in a better way, I think it's okay. So it does not really matter. But what matters most is the person that understand the plight of the people, the person that understand the feeling that brings himself down to the masses and then provides solution to how we can or cope or eradicate poverty in the country. So that's what I think is obtainable. Of course, it's very, very important for our next president to be educated. Let me put it that way. Higher education, like at least with the minimum of, okay, let me say all level, fair enough, fair enough all level. And if we can even get something better than that. I don't think bringing down, bringing up the educational background of the president can bring anything to the country. What I think is intellectual and wisdom. The wisdom, I think, it depends on the experience also. The experience has to do with, not with age or particular background. But I think the right person should be taken to be put into the right place as in, you cannot appoint a pro bowler to be the honorable of the commissioner of sports or whatever. So the somebody that is into sports should be minister of sports. Why a doctor should be minister of sports and also. With that, I think changes can happen in Nigeria and some other countries that are lacking something like that. The higher level of education, I think you have so much experience. You have so many ideas on you that even if somebody impose something, you cannot just stay and make a decision on your own. You have to sit down and think in as much as your experience. You have to sit down and think and go through that stuff before you sign or give any orders towards that is the level of education you can go. That's how education is just so important. It's not necessary, but maybe you could help. Like if you are exposed to a certain level of education, you realise that certain things as people that are civilised in quotes are not supposed to partake in. When you talk about politics, especially in Nigeria, Nigerian politics is just really ridiculous. So, though it's not necessary, but it could help. If you're coming handy, it could help.