The Nation Newspaper

Tag: qualifications

  • Qualifications required for appointment as CJN

    Qualifications required for appointment as CJN

    To constitutional lawyer and Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Prof. Itse Sagay, the Constitution is clear on the appointment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) says the constitution only stipulates that the most senior ranking Justice of the Supreme Court (JSC) should be appointed in acting capacity when the CJN’s office is vacant. It does not state that the most senior ranking Justice of the Supreme Court should be automatically be appointed CJN.

    I read with interest an article by Lawal Ogienagbon, entitled “Sound and Fury” at page 17 of The Nation newspaper of 9th February, 2017. There are some serious factual and legal errors in the article which need to be corrected.

    First, let me quote the offending passage;

    “It is given that the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court (JSC) takes the CJN seat on the retirement of the incumbent. This has been the practice for ages, but in 1972, the military deviated from the tradition to appoint the late Dr. Taslim Elias, the Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, as CJN. Perhaps, in order to avert a recurrence in future, the framers of the 1999 Constitution stipulated the criteria for appointing the CJN in the social contract. The Constitution made the CJN’s appointment a matter of seniority among JSCs.”

    The first and perhaps more serious error is the Constitutional one. It is NOT given that the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court takes the CJN seat on the retirement of the incumbent. On the contrary, by section 231(3), anybody who has been qualified to practice law for 15 years is eligible to be appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria. This means that by the present Constitution, the most junior judge in the Supreme Court can be appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria over all his seniors. Even a judge of the Court of Appeal or High Court can be appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria and this has happened before.

    A person can be appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria directly from outside the judiciary. A Law teacher or legal practitioner, who had been called to a Bar for at least 15 years, can be Chief Justice of Nigeria under the present Constitution. It is therefore wrong for Ogienagbon to state as follows “the Constitution made the CJN’s appointment a matter of seniority among the JSCs”. This is utterly wrong.

    It is the NJC and before it the Federal Judicial Services Commission (FJSC) that embraced this seniority syndrome. It is not a Constitutional requirement.

    The second error relates to the age of the seniority syndrome itself. This has not been the practice “for ages” nor did it start in 1972, but in 1979, when the Hon. Justice Atanda Fatai-Williams was made Chief Justice of Nigeria, by former President Shehu Shagari. Before then, there had been several cases of people appointed straight to the position of Chief Justice of Nigeria either from outside the bench or from a position, junior in rank to the most senior ranking Justice of the Supreme Court.

    In addition to the example of Dr. Taslim Olawale Elias who was appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria from his position as Attorney-General of the Federation in 1973, I can recall two other cases.

    In 1958, the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court and indeed the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Hon. Justice Olumuyiwa Jibowu, was superseded by his junior, the Hon. Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, who was Chief Justice of the Western Region. Adetokunbo Ademola was appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria on 25th April 1958 and his senior, Justice Olumuyiwa Jibowu, who was then acting Chief Justice of Nigeria was effectively demoted to replace Adetokunbo Ademola as Chief Justice of Western Region.

    I can give another example of this phenomenon. On Tuesday 25th August, 1975, Sir Darnley Alexander, the Chief Judge of Cross River State, was appointed directly as Chief Justice of Nigeria over the heads of all the seating Justices of the Supreme Court, particularly over Justice Fatai-Williams, the most senior Justice.

    In practice and in theory therefore, any lawyer can be appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria from outside the Supreme Court provided he has been called to a Bar for at least 15 years. Secondly, the issue of appointment by seniority is not a matter of law but a matter of practice since 1979. This gives the appointing authority the leeway to make appointments on merit, rather than on mere seniority with all the baggage and negative that could be attached to any particular, most senior Justice.

  • Qualifications minus performance

    SIR: Nigeria never lacks politicians with long educational credentials.  The problem is that the fantastic qualifications never amount to the nation’s growth.  I was glued to my television set watching the Senate screening of ministerial appointees by President Muhammad Buhari.  The erudite and zealous articulation of these masters of drivel was impressive to me.  The running of their academic achievements was like a sea flowing with brilliance from the best of our institutions to across the globe.  Folks with advanced degrees from Harvard to Columbia to Oxford to such like elite universities display their excellence.

    An open-minded analysis of their performance will raise one’s hope to the sky irrespective of one’s political leaning.  It is another debate altogether whether President Buhari went to heaven to bring down ascending angels or that he dug down to earth to recycle the usual suspects.  In my view, the argument will not dim the shine of these ministerial appointees.  They took the questions thrown to them during screening and chewed them to digestible bits and spat them out for the relish of the Senate.

    I was jolted to consciousness by the unbelievably razzmatazz of this marvellous concert of intellectual opera, a show that is repeated on the floor of the Senate every four years since our recent democracy.  I can cynically posit that time has proven this exercise to be another dance of fools’ in the rain.  Politicians leave us to perish in the cold after the glorious shower of loquacious fantasy.  They dazzle their fabulous qualifications before our eyes to win our trust.  Their action in office does not resonate to brightness of our society.  Jackals employ their wicked ingenuity to sort brilliant minds without morality from among us to blind us from their evil scheme.  It always works.  We see faces we respect and we trust that they will serve our interest.  Masterminds sit in the reserved balconies and laugh at our excitement.

    Our country stays in the dark at the end of each administration.  The crops of illustrious citizens that dumbfound us with their qualifications during screening become a mirage once they are sworn in to office only to resurface again in their grandiose opulence as our statesmen. I think it is absurd.

    We must wake up from this state of mindlessness and seek our true leaders.  The sun has shone on us with a glowing destiny.  It is in our field to endeavour to select thoroughbred horses to lead the race to our success.  I cherish the oratory of our ministerial appointees.  I pray that their action matches the force of their eloquence.  Now that they have been sworn in as the executors of the hope of the masses, let them perform.  For to uplift the people is the sole objective of their mission, I hope that is the vision of the president.

     

    • Pius Okaneme,

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

     

  • Buhari’s qualifications: Matters arising

    Buhari’s qualifications: Matters arising

    The controversy on the status of General Muhammadu Buhari’s qualifications in relation to his eligibility to aspire for election into the office of the president of the Federal Republic has been generating intense debate in recent times forcing a closer examination of relevant constitutional provisions with a view to offering insights into the legal position on the matter.
    Let me start by saying that the issue as to whether Buhari or any candidate is eligible or qualified in terms of qualifications to aspire to the office of the president of Nigeria is not a trivial matter or a non-issue but one of fundamental constitutional significance that clearly falls in the realm of issue based campaign. I, therefore, disagree with any suggestion that those raising the issue are petty or engaged in any smear campaign against Buhari’s candidacy. It is, therefore, proposed in this intervention to examine relevant constitutional provisions on the matter including judicial attitude through the cases in order to assist informed analysis on the subject matter.
    Section 131(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) dealing with qualification for election for the office of the president provides as follows:
    “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if – … he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent”.
    On the surface, one may be inclined to think that theclear import of this constitutional provision is that the minimum qualification that an aspirant for such exalted high office must possess is education up to at least the Secondary School level.  What then is the meaning of the phrase ‘minimum’?
    The Black’s Law Dictionary 8th edition page 1016 defines minimum as follows:
    “Of, relating to, or constituting the smallest acceptable or possible quantity in a given case …”
    The question that arises is whether in the light of the above constitutional provision, such aspirant necessarily must acquire such Secondary School Certificate or whether merely passing through the four walls of a Secondary School without graduation from the said Secondary School will suffice to satisfy the provision.  In the case of HASKE V MAGAGI (2008) 3 LRECN PG. 127 AT 130 RATIO 2the Court of Appeal Kaduna Division held on the meaning of ‘Education up to Secondary School Certificate level or its equivalent as follows:
    “Section 318(1) of the 1999 Constitution defines, “School Certificate or its equivalent” in sub-paragraph (b) thereof to inter alia mean, “education up to secondary school certificate level.” It is the law, that where a word or phrase has been legally defined in an enactment, not only will its ordinary or popular meaning give way, its meaning according to its definition in another legislation can also not be imported into the enactment in which it has also been defined.  See Yaro v Kurdah&Anor (1989) 1 NEPLER 1. Thus, in a number of decided cases, this court held that the meaning of definition of level of school certificate or its equivalent as contained under section 318 of the 1999 Constitution, can accommodate candidate who woefully failed in their bid to obtain a West African School Certificate (WASC).  They are described as WASC “attempted” to “failures”. In essence, a candidate need not to have obtained the secondary school certificate level or passed the secondary school certificate examination.  It is sufficient that such a person has attended a secondary school and read or studied up to the secondary school level, without passing and obtaining the certificate.  See Bayo v. Njidda (2004) 8 NWLR (Pt. 876) 544; (2003) 3 LRECN 114. Chukwu v. Icheonwo (1999) 4 NWLR (Pt. 800) 597; (1999) 4 LRECN 332.(Pp. 143-144, paras, G-C).”
    Similarly in the case of AIKULOLA VS. AKOGWU (2006) 41WRN pg. 29 – 111, particularly at 46 ratio 11 the Court of Appeal Abuja Division while construing the meaning of the words ‘School Certificate’under Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution held as follows:
    “Under section 318 of the 1999 Constitution, the words “school certificate” or its equivalent mean:
    (a)   Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent or Grade II Teachers Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or
    (b)  Education up to Secondary school level; or
    (c) Primary Six Leaving Certificate or its equivalent plus
    (i) Service in the public or private sector in the Federal in any capacity acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for a minimum of 10 years and
    (ii) Attendance at course and training in such institutions as may be acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for periods totaling up to a minimum of one year; and
    (iii) The ability to read, write and understand and communicate in the English language to the satisfaction of the Commission.
    In effect, a person seeking to become a candidate for an election to the House of Assembly of any State in the Federal Republic of Nigeria must possess at least one of the qualifications set out in (a) or (b) or (c) above. See Bayo v. Njidda (2004) 8 NWLR (Pt. 876) 544 at 618 – 620.”
    Per Odili, JCA (Pp. 81 – 82) lines 45 – 35
    ‘School certificate or its equivalent’ means
    (a)   A Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or (G) education up to Secondary School Certificate level; or (c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent.”
    Per Rhodes-Vivour, JCA (P. 104) lines. 30 – 45.
    In the case of DIGAI V. NANCHANG (2003) 2 LRECN pg. 513 –546 at pg. 515 ratio 4 dealing with the requisite educational qualification for membership of a state house of assembly the Court of Appeal Jos Division held as follows:
    “From the provision of section 106(c) of the  Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, all that is required of a member of a House of Assembly by way of educational qualification, is that he has been educated up to the School Certificate level or its equivalent.
    Section 318 defines what is meant by school certificate or its equivalent…A close reading and analysis of Section 106(c) and section 318 clearly shows that all that is required of a candidate for the membership of House of Assembly, is that he had attended a secondary school up to school certificate level or its equivalent. To my mind, a testimonial from secondary school showing clearly that the 1st respondent attended and completed a secondary school as prescribed in section 106 (c) of the Constitution. What is required under the law is that there must be evidence that  a candidate is educated up to the school certificate level, and not that he must produce a certificate to that effect. (Pp. 542-543, paras G-D)”.
    On whether the candidate need possess such school certificate to be eligible to contest, the same court held in the same ruling as follows:
    “I agree that since there is evidence that the 2nd respondent sat for the school certificate examination on May/June 1975, this is sufficient to satisfy the requirement of section 10(c) of the Decree.  While the acquisition of sound education may be desirable to enable one discharge the functions as Chairman of Local Government Council, it is not absolutely necessary that such a person must possess a certificate to enable him function effectively.” (P. 545, paras. B-D)”.
    The other issue that is relevant is the person who has the burden to prove such qualification whether it is the candidate who is aspiring for such office that must show that he has passed through a secondary school or the person alleging otherwise that must show that the aspirant does not hold such qualification? The answer to this poser was given in the case of Haske v. Mogaji (supra) where the court held on the question of onus to prove as follows:
    “It is both legal and logical that the mere fact that a party has pleaded in his petition that the other party is not qualified to contest an election, because he lacked the requisite educational qualification is not sufficient for the Tribunal to latch unto it and decide on it, in the absence of cogent and credible evidence of such non-qualification or disqualification being placed before the Tribunal. In the absence of evidence, such a plea in the petition ends and/or terminates with the petition”.
    It is clear from the foregoing that it is the person alleging non-qualification of the candidate that has the responsibility of showing by cogent/convincing evidence that such aspirant never attended any such secondary school as alleged.
    The foregoing analysis may have revealed the following:
    (a)  Buhari’s eligibility to contest for the office of the president of Nigeria can only be challenged if those making the allegation can show either that he has never attended any secondary school, that he never possessed any primary school leaving certificate, that he has never served in any public service for a period of 10 years in addition to his primary school certificate or that he has never sat for any school certificate examination.  It is immaterial whether he passed or failed such examination. To succeed, they must also show that he does not possess any higher qualification above the minimum requirement of secondary school certificate. In otherwords, they must show that all certificates acquired by the General in consequence of his military training at home and abroad culminating in his rising to the position of a Major-General in the Army were certificates below secondary school level or certificate. It is those making these allegations who must prove the allegations against the General. It is not the General who must show that he possesses such qualifications.  The law is, ‘He who asserts must prove’.
    (b)   The army authorities had publicly admitted that they have records of Buhari’s qualifications in their custody. The army being a public institution can furnish the Certified True Copies of Buhari’s qualifications to appropriate authorities, including INEC at the request of those making the allegations without bordering the General for such obligations.
    It can be said that those who have raised the issue of the General’s qualifications and eligibility may have served patriotic intentions, but they need to do more by showing through concrete, cogent, compelling and believable evidence that the General neither attended any secondary school nor possesses any primary school leaving certificate, including showing that his period of service in the army, including service as Head of State in total do not rank up to 10 years for them to succeed in their patriotic crusade.
    Finally, having raised the constitutional issue of qualification, no doubt an issue based campaign, those interested in taking the issue further are advised to be guided by judicial pronouncements quoted copiously above if they want to be taken seriously.  However, if they are basing their conclusion on speculations not backed up with empirical evidence, it is wise to advise them to consider the issue as closed while moving to other issues in the campaign that ought to be dictated by issues and not sentiments.

     

  • Qualifications shake up

    Nkechi (not real names) finished secondary school with a strong desire to further her education over a decade ago. She made good grades in her O Levels and was ready to study for relevant entrance examinations needed to gain admission into the university.

    However, there was a snag – her family was not financially-buoyant enough to sponsor her education. In such situation, it was easy to convince her to marry Policeman James (not real names), who promised to send her to school. He did – a mushroom school where she earned an unrecognised diploma.

    Nkechi got a job with a Mortgage Bank as a computer operator. But it was not long before her more educated superiors noticed her brilliance. Give her a task, and she delivers with precision. She began taking on added responsibilities – and was promoted for her excellent delivery. She rose to become the Head of Operations.  Nobody remembered that she had no qualifications. She did not further her education either.

    The question that readily comes to the mind of the reader is why did she not gain qualifications on the job? No right-thinking person in her position would have been unconcerned about that – and she wasn’t.  But her husband got her salary. Every month, like a dutiful and submissive wife, according to her interpretation of the African culture, she gave her salary to her husband. He took it and left her with nothing for herself.

    The only things he gave her were three children and a lot of beating.  It was because of the incessant beating that Nkechi’s boss graciously transferred her to the Southeast. The move also signified the end of her abusive marriage. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, the bank ran into difficulties and was bought over. That was when trouble started for Nkechi. With no qualifications, her job was at risk, despite her performance. She lost her job when she could not present any certificates for confirmation.

    Fortunately, she was later employed by a client she had met in the bank to run his business which she still does successfully.

    For me, the moral of the story is the need to re-design our education system to recognise skills. If Nkechi could rise to the position of Head of Operations of a bank without tertiary education, our education system should be designed to assess her skills against conventional educational qualifications and place her on a level equivalent to the skills she possesses. That is what the National Vocational Qualifications Framework was designed to address. However, the framework has not been completed since being introduced during Mrs Obi Ezekwesili’s tenure as education minister (2006-2007).

    If the framework is in place, people like Nkechi would not have to apply to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and struggle with one million others for admission to get qualifications to work. Rather, she could get recognition based on her skills. She could also gain admission through direct entry to earn a degree if she desires. I hope in future that our education system would become so dynamic and innovative that if she doesn’t even need to go back to the university for a first degree, she can take courses in areas of deficiencies and be recognised.

    In the United Kingdom, a person can be accepted by universities for Masters degree without a first degree based on skills and work experience.

    Nigeria needs to learn from the UK experience. This craze for certificates is only breeding graduates with little to show beyond the qualifications they parade. Our system should stop limiting people or placing unnecessary obstacles in their paths (e.g the HND/BSc dichotomy). People should be able to aspire to whatever position they desire as long as they reach it.

    While in the UK, a person without a first degree can be accepted for Masters once he can convince the university of his skills and competencies, in Nigeria those with HND are not allowed to apply for an academic Masters. Even with a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD), some universities do not allow it. Some do not even allow HND holders to do PGD. I wonder when we will leave all such rigidity behind in Nigeria.

    We have examples of successful business owners in Nigeria who started without university degrees. An example is Mrs Adenike Ogunlesi, founder of Ruff n Tumble, a children’s clothing fashion line. She did not complete her first year studying Law in the university. But if she were to apply to a UK university for a Masters, she would be accepted because of her business exploits.

    Our tertiary institutions need to embrace international best practices. We cannot expect every professional to follow the same path, especially as many of our youths spend more than one year at home after their secondary education before gaining admission.

     

     

  • Society and it’s obsession with paper qualifications(1)

    What kind of English is this, you might wonder after reading my intro above. Well, it was written by a Nigerian university graduate from one of the higher institutions in the country. Sounds unbelievable? Well, it’s true. According to some reports, the said graduate of Electrical/Electronics and a few others had been rejected by their areas of primary assignment for the NYSC programme due to lack of competence and intelligence level expected of genuine degree holders.

    The story goes that the said graduate who was posted to Niger state, was rejected by a nursery/primary school in the state because of his inability to read and write.

    Having been rejected by two other employers, he had to be reposted by the state NYSC to a bakery, pending the final determination of his case by the NYSC national headquarters.

    That many products of our universities these days fall into the category above is no longer news. For years, the general complaint has been that many of the nation’s higher institutions, churn out half-baked graduates. That was in the past. Today, a high percentage of them are not even baked at all. Maybe, that is the reason they are now being sent to bakeries for their primary assignments so they can get fully baked!

    Anyway, employers of labour, who are mostly the ‘end users’ of these products have cried out for years over this issue, that something needs to be done to rectify the embarrassing situation. For how could someone, who supposedly spent an average of four or more years in a higher institution be unable to teach in a nursery/primary school or write the type of English above? Well, some might say, English is not our mother tongue so it’s no big deal if he can’t write or speak it well. That would have been fine if he was a farmer in the village with no formal education who only needs good farming skills to survive. It’s a different ball game for a graduate who supposedly spent four years or so in a higher institution of learning in the country.

    English might be a foreign language but by accident of history due to colonialism, it’s now our official language, generally used widely nearly everywhere be it homes, schools or offices. It’s the language of instruction right from the foundation stage of the educational system- nursery, primary, secondary. Resultantly, for a student to have passed through all these stages and up to the university level and still unable to communicate effectively in this medium shows something has gone wrong somewhere.

    It has thrown up the ugly underbelly of all that has gone seriously wrong in our educational system. While this piece is not about the blame game or pointing accusing fingers at all those who have contributed in making a mess of our once proud educational system, which was one of the best on the continent, there’s one salient point I want to point out. And that is society’s obsession with paper qualification or becoming a graduate by all means possible. In an ideal world, it would have been wonderful if every one can be a university graduate.

     

    To be continued