HND/B Sc. for President and Gov.-A welcome Idea but emphasis should be placed on Integrity-Prof. Olagoke

Perhaps disturbed by the worrisome performances of political office holders in this dispensation, a bill by one of the lawmakers is,presently before the Senate that seeks to make the minimum qualification  to vie for the position of  President and Governor, Higher National Diploma or its equivalent, while for other elective positions the minimum qualification  Ordinary National Diploma or its equivalent is been proposed. Nigerians are already expressing divergent views on this proposal. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of  Shafaudeen-in-Isalm Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says the bill is a welcome development, but government must ensure it does a background check on the past of holders of certificates. Excerpts :

A bill  presently before the Senate  seeks to make the minimum qualification  to vie for the position of  President and Governor, Higher National Diploma or its equivalent, while for other elective positions the minimum qualification is Ordinary National Diploma or its equivalent. What is your reaction to this bill ?

Positions of power under democratic norms largely depends on  concept understanding, moral discipline, patriotism  and rudiments of administrative sagacity cum management technical know how.

 All these characteristics  are expected to be in-built virtues of any aspirant vying  for positions of power. Luckily for us, the three domains of education expected to reinforce aspirants as a necessary tool for capacity building   in this respect apart from the literacy and numeracy advantage of the affective domain, the attitudinal building  is equally embedded in this domain.

Unfortunately emphasis on character building is very low in our educational pursuit to the detriment of the desired development  as a goal of education. This vital aspect of human life happens to be the basis upon which the fate based houses of worship are built. Unfortunately, the wrong attitudinal value that humbles education into effectiveness allowing corruption to dominate the lives of the elite and scholars is the same virus that has eaten into the fabrics of sacredness  expected  of the houses of God into that of profanity making the man to become a misfit in the game plan of political activities to the detriment of the desired goal of sustainable development. In this Nigeria, we have seen excellent performances of holders of standard six certificates, that was during the era of an environment of institutional discipline. Promotion exercises were based on in-service training attendant higher efficiency at work and consequent higher productivity with lots of goodwill in terms of profit. Pupil-age was equally appreciated while mentor-ship took the pride  of replicating  hard-work and dignity of labor.

The then Head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon ruled this nation as an holder of School Certificate, he equally succeeded in executing  the fratricidal civil war of 1967-1970, that was when sincerity of purpose, ruler-ship by conscience  and a high level of the fear of God were in vogue. Training, pupil-age and mentor-ship used to have direct bearing on the assessed needs for planning to have a right direction of purpose.

However, today we insincerely depend on the certificate worth usually based on the theoretical realm of education, where researches may not necessarily have direct bearings on the need of the people. Despite the various observed anomalies in the cognitive arm of our educational institutions, the nation continues to hero worship holders of certificates .The three tiers of education viz Primary, Secondary and Tertiary are equally badly affected  by the challenges of facility update and dearth of experts in some areas of specialization. At the secondary level, challenges of appropriate  and adequate laboratory and workshop equipment are equally there. When certificates are obtained in an environment of under funding, the worth of such certificates may not necessarily reflect on the holders, hence the challenges of effective performances would be there, therefore Nigeria should be ashamed of itself, considering the fact that  our Senior secondary school certificates-WAEC or NECO- are no longer relevant in the scheme of our political system.

The HND/B Sc.  minimum qualification  to vie for President and Governor bill in the senate is a welcome idea, but this might not give us the expected results, if the holders' past records are not critically looked into, such certificates held by future treasury looters would only justify what brought about terrorism in Nigeria. The expectation is that the holders of HND/B Sc. and above  must be creative enough  for them to be able to tap into the psycho motor domain of education which clearly stands for provision of basic amenities using appropriate technology and establishment of functional infrastructure to solve the myth surrounding employment issues and our economic management challenges. High worth of certificate will never be productive without the right attitudinal approach to issues based on the fundamentals of positive mindset towards the nation and the expected  service demanded by the positions of power, the  holders of the certificates may assume, because in this lies the core value of self esteem and integrity, self confidence, positive mental attitude for ease of making right, accurate and precision prone decisions to move the nation forward.