– The House of Representatives is
considering to reduce the age of
candidacy to contest for the positions of
president, governor and senate
– “The bill is a demonstration of the
growing desire and demand of youths to
participate in the democratic process”
The bill proposing to lower the eligible age
for presidential candidates and those
interested to run for public offices in
Nigeria passed second reading in the House
of Representatives on Wednesday.
If passed into a law it will lower age of
candidacy requirements for the office of the
president from 40 to 30 years, and will also
allow the 30-year-olds to run for the office
of a governor and for election to the Senate.
Besides, it will reduce the age qualifications
to contest for the House of Representatives
and State Houses of Assembly to 25 years.
The sponsor of the bill is Tony Chinedu
Nwulu who represents Oshodi-Isolo 11
Federal Constituency of Lagos state, on
platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The lawmaker believes that the intiative will
attract more youths in politics and
governance, he stressed that electing young
candidates into public offices is an important
aspect of democratic practices.
Explaining his position he gave an example
of other countries where age of candidacy
requirements were reduced. He
said: “Countries like the United Kingdom
parliament decided in 2006 to lower their age
of candidacy from 21 to 18, which had existed
since the Parliamentary Elections Act 1695. An
age candidacy of 25 would encourage greater
youth participation in politics.”
Mr Nwulu is convinced that the bill is a
demonstration of the growing desire and
demand of youths to participate in
the country governance. He added : “This
desire itself could be viewed as a sufficient
warrant for young people to participate,
demonstrate a willingness to engage and fulfill
the burdens of office.” The bill also promotes the independence of
candidacy into the country’s electoral
process. He said: “ It is pertinent now to
amend the constitution to make room for
independent candidates to widen the
democratic processes in our elections, and
above all to encourage our young ones to fully
participate in all elective offices.”
The Bill is an alteration of section 65, 106,
131 and 177 of the 1999 constitution which
had prescribed qualification into the office
of President to 40 years and above, office of
governors and senate, 35 years and above
as well as House of Representatives and
state Houses of Assembly to 25 years and
above.