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A major contentious
issue during the debate on the report of the House of Representatives
ad-hoc committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution last week was
that of the minimum qualification of aspirants to the House and the
Senate.

The 44-member
committee headed by the deputy speaker, Usman Nafada recommended that
any Nigerian aspiring to be a senator or a representative should have
at least a diploma.

The constitution,
in Section 65 (2) (a) stipulates that a person shall be qualified for
election into the National Assembly if, “he has been educated up to at
least School Certificate level or its equivalent…” But the committee
proposed an amendment to the section substituting for certificate the
words “Diploma level or its equivalent and obtained the relevant
certificates and has served as a member of the National Assembly.” The
clause “has served as a member of the National Assembly” means that
anyone who has served for at least three months as a member of the
federal legislature would be exempted since that would have afforded
him or her the opportunity of learning the legislative proceedings.

Not surprising, the issue generated an intense and prolonged debate during the plenary session.

For the lawmakers
in support of the recommendation, the reduction in the quality of
education in the country makes it imperative to review upward the
minimum qualification of those who make law for Nigerians at the
federal level. They also believed that if the qualification is raised,
it would compel many to embrace education, which is a major determinant
in the productivity of the lawmakers.

But those opposed
to the recommendation argued that if the amendment is carried through,
many Nigerians may be disenfranchised due to poor educational
background. From the tone of the debate, it was not difficult to fathom
that they were protecting many of their colleagues who possess only
school certificates.

In the current
National Assembly, about 0.94 per cent of the 109 senators are school
certificate holders while about 4.74 per cent of such people are in the
360-member lower chamber.

According to the
“The Lawmakers: Sixth Assembly,” the percentage of senators with
O’Level GCE in 1999 was 6.6 percent but dropped to 4 percent in 2003
while in the House, the statistics showed that in 1999, those with O’
Level Certificate were 9.4 percent in 1999 and 7 percent in 2003.

It also said that
the proportion of senators with the first degree has been fairly
stable, with 44.3 percent in 2007 as against 46.7 percent in 1999 and
43.2 in 2003; while in the House, the movement has been quite dramatic
– from 55.7 percent in 1999 to 44.6 percent in 2003 and 48.96 percent
in 2007. Senators with second degrees have risen from 20.6 percent in
1999 to 31.1 percent in 2007 while in the House they have grown from
17.7 percent in 1999 to 31.16 percent in 2007.

The book concludes:
“This trend seems to have been strengthened by the general awareness of
the need for better learning and deeper knowledge of policy making
among the earlier crop of lawmakers. Many of the 1999 class of
legislators were known to have either availed themselves of
opportunities for courses during their tenure or return to school at
the end of their tenure.” Despite the perceived improvement, the
quality of debates on the floor of both chambers is still low, and
sometimes embarrassing. Others are merely warming the seats.

For improved
training, educational qualification is a major determinant of the
quality of debate in any forum, including the legislature. Therefore,
the ad-hoc committee deserves some kudos for that recommendation.

However, as can be
seen, education is not all it takes for our lawmakers to be more
productive. Controversially, some of those certificates paraded by our
lawmakers are fake. How can one explain, for instance, why a senator
who served between 1999-2003 and who claimed to have a doctorate degree
could not make a simple sentence in English? Then there was the House
of Representatives member (between 2003 and 2007) with an advanced
diploma who could not say a word in English throughout the four years
he served.

It is common
knowledge that with some good money, you can obtain any certificate. It
is also not in doubt that some kinds of diploma can be obtained within
a space of three months, whether in Nigeria or abroad. So, it is not a
big deal obtaining a diploma certificate for the purpose of
participating in an election to come to the National Assembly as is
being proposed by the Nafada Panel.

What is important, therefore, is the kind of exposure the lawmakers
get when they come to the legislature. Our lawmakers need constant
training and re-training on legislative duties. It is necessary for the
relevant authorities to organise seminars and retreats to enable them
improve on their productivity.