The House of Representatives has asked the federal government to shut down tertiary education institutions to allow students to participate in the general elections.
The House asked the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education, the National Commission for Colleges of Education, and the Federal Ministry of Education to direct all tertiary institutions to suspend academic activities during the election period.
Also, the lower chamber resolved that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should make special arrangements for students to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC).
The lawmakers also mandated the House Committees on Tertiary Education and Electoral Matters to liaise with the agencies to facilitate the process and report to the chamber within one week for further legislative action.
These resolutions were passed at the plenary session on Thursday following a motion moved by Kabir Ibrahim Tukura (APC, Kebbi).
Ibrahim said there are over 2.1 million students currently studying in universities, while over 2.4 million are students in polytechnics, mono technics, and colleges of education.
He claimed that because school calendars don’t take election timelines and dates into account, the majority of students are “disenfranchised” by the academic calendars of various tertiary institutions.
“This lack of flexibility makes it difficult for students to participate in the electoral process,” Ibrahim said.
The lawmaker said going by INEC figures, 3.8 million of the newly registered voters are students, accounting for 40.8 per cent of the total number of newly registered voters.
“These students who constitute 40.8 per cent of the newly registered voters, have their polling units sited in states outside their campuses, thereby necessitating travelling outside their respective institutions to vote in the 2023 elections,” he said.
“Tertiary institutions are not considering academic breaks for students during the general elections, despite knowing that most students registered outside their campuses during the continuous voter registration exercise, which took place during the prolonged Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), strike.
“INEC has devolved PVCs distributions at the registration areas and wards across the 774 local government offices throughout the federation.
“Distribution of PVCs at the wards has ended, and the exercise moved back to the local government/area council offices, thereby further limiting the chances of the students to collect their PVCs which is a precondition for voting at the polls.
“While the students are busy with academic activities, INEC is engaged in distributing PVCs at the wards across the 774 LGAs of the federation which deprives students of the opportunity to collect their PVCs.
“Tertiary institutions do not consider periods of elections in designing academic calendars, as most of them conduct semester examinations when the preparations for the general elections are almost completed or when the polls are going on, thereby disenfranchising the students from exercising their civic duties.”
The lawmaker said INEC has “enormous statutory powers to make special arrangements” for students to collect their PVCs to vote.
He noted that the education regulatory authorities have the statutory powers to direct both the public and private tertiary institutions to suspend academic activities pending the conclusion of the general election.
After a unanimous adoption of the motion, the house mandated committees on tertiary education and electoral matters to “liaise with the agencies to facilitate the process” and report back within one week.
