Apparently miffed by the degeneration in Nigeria’s
political and economic fortunes in the recent years, the National
Chairman of the Patriots and Igbo Leaders of Thought, ILT,
Professor Ben Nwabueze has called for the amendment of the 1999
Constitution to ensure an upper age limit of 70 years or below for
anybody to be eligible to contest for office of President, Governor
and state and national assemblies.
Nwabueze said that “Our dear country is bleeding to death. It
needs a leader to save it.” He gave poor marks to President
Muhammadu Buhari in the last three , stressing that his performance
was abysmally low.
These were contained in a statement in he issued in Enugu.
According to him, any claim that “Nigeria is anything other than
an underdeveloped country or that its economy has been, or is being
effectively managed is fanciful, indeed a fallacy… or based on
dream.” On age limit, he said that “the wear and tear and stresses
of life, coupled with health and other challenges, rob every one of
us, after the age of 70 years, of the energy required for the job
of governing Nigeria,” pointing out that “Anyone aspiring to govern
and lead Nigeria as President should also be a person with plenty
of energy, a high amount of energy characteristic of the youth, the
energy of youth, the kind of energy that will enable him or her to
engage in the arduous task of mobilising the people for national
transformation; mobilisation of the people for such a purpose being
one of the most arduous tasks of political leadership.|
Qualification for political office
He also called for the review of qualifications for political
office holders from the elementary school certificate to university
degree or equivalent, saying that the bane of the country’s
leadership was semi literacy.
He stressed that a situation where semi literates were governors
or president did not augur well for the country as they lacked the
intellectual capacity required for good governance.
He also said that the first school leaving certificate
prescribed as qualification for office holders in the constitution
should be substituted with university degree since semi literates
who occupy offices of governors, president or become members of
both the state and National Assembles do not have the intellectual
capacity to lead the nation.
According to him, there was no part of the country which had not
produced several university graduates to represent them as
governors, president or members of the state and National
Assemblies these days.
The statement further read, “Good leadership: The qualities and
credentials needed for good leadership can readily be identified.
The primal credential is good education, such as would enable the
leadership to combine -ideas and power, intellectualism and
politics.
“Leadership is a critical part of Nigeria’s problem of
governance because the educational qualification prescribed for our
political leaders by section 131(d), as amended by the National
Assembly in 2010, and section 318(1) of the Constitution does not
equip them to be able to combine ideas and power; intellectualism
and politics.
“In these days of widespread ‘expo,’ certificate faking and
general degeneration in the standards of education in our schools
and colleges, primary six school leaving certificate prescribed by
the Constitution for those seeking elective political office is
really next door to illiteracy.
“A semi -literate President or Governor is what the prescription
tantamounts to. What little literacy is acquired from the
educational system at the primary school level is soon lost owing
to the lack of a reading culture that pervades our society, caused
to a considerable extent by the enthronement of wealth as the
determinant of social standing and the consequent inordinate
pursuit of it and of other mundane, non-intellectual pursuits.
“No one with this kind of thoroughly inadequate educational
background can be expected to read, with understanding, the
Constitution of Nigeria, laden, and it is, with difficult and
perplexing concepts, or the books on constitutional law, political
science and sociology where the knowledge of these concepts can be
found.
“And knowing that he cannot understand them, he would have no
inclination or disposition to buy the books or to read them.
The desire to accommodate educationally backward areas, which no
doubt is the reason underlying the provisions, is no justification
for prescribing such low level of educational qualification for
election to the office of president, state governor or member of
the National Assembly.
“There is no state in the country today that does not have a
fair number of university graduates.
“The effect of these provisions is, lamentably, to entrench in
the Constitution the intellectual poverty and educational
inadequacy which has characterised leadership at the level of the
presidency since independence in 1960 right up to the election of
President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 (the first university graduate to
hold the office of Executive President discounting the interim
arrangement under which Chief Ernest Shonekan, a university
graduate, ruled for four or so months) and the ascension to the
presidential office by Vice-President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on May
5, 2010, after the death of Umaru Yar’Adua.
“The low educational qualification prescribed for elective
political leaders has resulted, sadly, in the relegation of
intellectualism in government and politics in the country.
Intellectualism is concerned essentially with the notion of ideas,
that is: the mental ability to comprehend ideas, and to reason or
think them out.
“An intellectual is a person engaged in creative and rational
thinking about the world, about humanity, about human
relationships, and about the governance of human society; he is a
person dedicated to the study and understanding of ideas that
govern and shape our world, society, the organism known as
thestate, and generally to intellectual pursuits and interests.
“The power of ideas in shaping human life and in liberating,
liberalising and stimulating the mind is well highlighted in a book
by Peter Watson titled Ideas : A History From Fire to Freud, first
published in 2005, a tome of a book, 1117 pages, which everyone
aspiring to govern and lead Nigeria should read.
“Our Constitution should, therefore, prescribe an upper age
limit for the presidency, say, 70 years or lower, as is the case in
some countries of the world, and as is done for non-elective public
officers in Nigeria.
“In addition to the sort of education that would enable the
leadership to combine ideas and power, intellectualism and
politics, the type of leadership needed for our country has to be
one, not only committed to democracy and constitutionalism, but
also one at once dedicated, single-minded, selfless, disciplined,
patriotic and highly motivated in the national interest with a deep
concern for the public good/welfare, a leadership able to mobilise
the various strata of society, and prepared to commit suicide by
sacrificing its vested economic interest in the preservation of the
status quo.
“It must be a leadership whose sincerity of purpose is so
transparent as to induce people to adopt the desired new patterns
of behaviour in place of the old ones and whose dedication to the
cause is sufficiently total and selfless to inspire confidence, a
leadership that is seen to be practising what it preaches.
“People cannot be persuaded by the leadership to be tolerant,
honest, public-spirited, patriotic, fair-minded, law-abiding,
devoted, disciplined,” among others “if the leaders themselves do
not practise those virtues.
Apparently miffed by the degeneration in Nigeria’s
political and economic fortunes in the recent years, the National
Chairman of the Patriots and Igbo Leaders of Thought, ILT,
Professor Ben Nwabueze has called for the amendment of the 1999
Constitution to ensure an upper age limit of 70 years or below for
anybody to be eligible to contest for office of President, Governor
and state and national assemblies.
Nwabueze said that “Our dear country is bleeding to death. It
needs a leader to save it.” He gave poor marks to President
Muhammadu Buhari in the last three , stressing that his performance
was abysmally low.
These were contained in a statement in he issued in Enugu.
According to him, any claim that “Nigeria is anything other than
an underdeveloped country or that its economy has been, or is being
effectively managed is fanciful, indeed a fallacy… or based on
dream.” On age limit, he said that “the wear and tear and stresses
of life, coupled with health and other challenges, rob every one of
us, after the age of 70 years, of the energy required for the job
of governing Nigeria,” pointing out that “Anyone aspiring to govern
and lead Nigeria as President should also be a person with plenty
of energy, a high amount of energy characteristic of the youth, the
energy of youth, the kind of energy that will enable him or her to
engage in the arduous task of mobilising the people for national
transformation; mobilisation of the people for such a purpose being
one of the most arduous tasks of political leadership.|
Qualification for political office
He also called for the review of qualifications for political
office holders from the elementary school certificate to university
degree or equivalent, saying that the bane of the country’s
leadership was semi literacy.
He stressed that a situation where semi literates were governors
or president did not augur well for the country as they lacked the
intellectual capacity required for good governance.
He also said that the first school leaving certificate
prescribed as qualification for office holders in the constitution
should be substituted with university degree since semi literates
who occupy offices of governors, president or become members of
both the state and National Assembles do not have the intellectual
capacity to lead the nation.
According to him, there was no part of the country which had not
produced several university graduates to represent them as
governors, president or members of the state and National
Assemblies these days.
The statement further read, “Good leadership: The qualities and
credentials needed for good leadership can readily be identified.
The primal credential is good education, such as would enable the
leadership to combine -ideas and power, intellectualism and
politics.
“Leadership is a critical part of Nigeria’s problem of
governance because the educational qualification prescribed for our
political leaders by section 131(d), as amended by the National
Assembly in 2010, and section 318(1) of the Constitution does not
equip them to be able to combine ideas and power; intellectualism
and politics.
“In these days of widespread ‘expo,’ certificate faking and
general degeneration in the standards of education in our schools
and colleges, primary six school leaving certificate prescribed by
the Constitution for those seeking elective political office is
really next door to illiteracy.
“A semi -literate President or Governor is what the prescription
tantamounts to. What little literacy is acquired from the
educational system at the primary school level is soon lost owing
to the lack of a reading culture that pervades our society, caused
to a considerable extent by the enthronement of wealth as the
determinant of social standing and the consequent inordinate
pursuit of it and of other mundane, non-intellectual pursuits.
“No one with this kind of thoroughly inadequate educational
background can be expected to read, with understanding, the
Constitution of Nigeria, laden, and it is, with difficult and
perplexing concepts, or the books on constitutional law, political
science and sociology where the knowledge of these concepts can be
found.
“And knowing that he cannot understand them, he would have no
inclination or disposition to buy the books or to read them.
The desire to accommodate educationally backward areas, which no
doubt is the reason underlying the provisions, is no justification
for prescribing such low level of educational qualification for
election to the office of president, state governor or member of
the National Assembly.
“There is no state in the country today that does not have a
fair number of university graduates.
“The effect of these provisions is, lamentably, to entrench in
the Constitution the intellectual poverty and educational
inadequacy which has characterised leadership at the level of the
presidency since independence in 1960 right up to the election of
President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 (the first university graduate to
hold the office of Executive President discounting the interim
arrangement under which Chief Ernest Shonekan, a university
graduate, ruled for four or so months) and the ascension to the
presidential office by Vice-President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on May
5, 2010, after the death of Umaru Yar’Adua.
“The low educational qualification prescribed for elective
political leaders has resulted, sadly, in the relegation of
intellectualism in government and politics in the country.
Intellectualism is concerned essentially with the notion of ideas,
that is: the mental ability to comprehend ideas, and to reason or
think them out.
“An intellectual is a person engaged in creative and rational
thinking about the world, about humanity, about human
relationships, and about the governance of human society; he is a
person dedicated to the study and understanding of ideas that
govern and shape our world, society, the organism known as
thestate, and generally to intellectual pursuits and interests.
“The power of ideas in shaping human life and in liberating,
liberalising and stimulating the mind is well highlighted in a book
by Peter Watson titled Ideas : A History From Fire to Freud, first
published in 2005, a tome of a book, 1117 pages, which everyone
aspiring to govern and lead Nigeria should read.
“Our Constitution should, therefore, prescribe an upper age
limit for the presidency, say, 70 years or lower, as is the case in
some countries of the world, and as is done for non-elective public
officers in Nigeria.
“In addition to the sort of education that would enable the
leadership to combine ideas and power, intellectualism and
politics, the type of leadership needed for our country has to be
one, not only committed to democracy and constitutionalism, but
also one at once dedicated, single-minded, selfless, disciplined,
patriotic and highly motivated in the national interest with a deep
concern for the public good/welfare, a leadership able to mobilise
the various strata of society, and prepared to commit suicide by
sacrificing its vested economic interest in the preservation of the
status quo.
“It must be a leadership whose sincerity of purpose is so
transparent as to induce people to adopt the desired new patterns
of behaviour in place of the old ones and whose dedication to the
cause is sufficiently total and selfless to inspire confidence, a
leadership that is seen to be practising what it preaches.
“People cannot be persuaded by the leadership to be tolerant,
honest, public-spirited, patriotic, fair-minded, law-abiding,
devoted, disciplined,” among others “if the leaders themselves do
not practise those virtues.
Read more https://nairalaw.com/why-semi-literates-are-governing-nigeria-prof-nwabueze/