Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, at the weekend, took his colleagues to ridicule when he said that political officeholders are highest remunerated service providers but has the lowest entry qualification.

Abaribe said this at the weekend, during the Convention of the 41st Annual Olumide Memorial Lecture (OML) of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors in Abuja,

According to him, although lawmakers are highly paid, they are the lowest qualified individuals in the country.

“Political office-holders are ultimately and without argument the highest remunerated service providers in our country today. But they are a set of people whose entry points are the least in academic qualification. By Section 65(2)(a), 106(c) and 131(d) of the constitution a person who has been educated up to the school certificate level or its equivalent, can be elected into the national and state houses of assembly respectively including the exalted office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” he said.

With all the powers vested in him (politician), the senator said, political officeholders have the least qualification or no qualification at all.

According to Abaribe, to further water down the academic qualifications of such political office-holders, Section 318 of the constitution includes primary six school leaving certificate, city and guilds certificate, the ability to read and write or any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the equivalent of school certificate.

“The most embarrassing of this qualification is that it’s left to the subjective determination of INEC and the courts” he said.

In his lecture, titled:”Why not merit” Abaribe suggested that federal character and educationally- disadvantaged areas of the constitution should be expunged as it encourages laziness, unproductivity and above all it’s wrongly implemented.

“The first evil is to seek to hide under this policy to halt the development of the educational potentials of the people classified as educationally disadvantaged areas, whatever that means, until those from educationally disadvantaged areas catch up with them. One of the policies used to implement this retrogressive idea is the policy of catchment area. It’s used mainly by university administrators, for instance, to restrict administration into certain courses to people from the catchment location of the university.

“Under this principle, students who are not from the area are denied admission into those courses like law and medical services, though they are qualified.

On the other hand, students from the catchment areas are favoured with admissions into those courses denied their fellow students from the outer communities merely by the reason of the fact that they come from such places” he noted.

In his remarks, president, Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Dr Matthew Olomolatan Ibitoye agreed that the importance of merit cannot be overstated as surveyors play a crucial role in shaping the nation’s infrastructure, land use planning and sustainable development.

“When we compromise on merit, we compromise on the very foundations of our profession with far-reaching consequences for our society. We must confirm our commitment to meritocracy in all aspects of our lives be it in our professions, government institutions or society at large. As members of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, we have a responsibility to lead by example and promote the values of competence, integrity and diligence” Ibitoye warned. (Daily Sun)

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