The House of Representatives has called for the closure of all tertiary institutions in the country to enable students vote candidates of their choice during the forthcoming general elections, saying millions of students of tertiary institutions are at risk of disenfranchisement.
The Green chamber, therefore, called on the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Federal ministry of education to direct the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and other related bodies to order all tertiary institutions to suspend academic activities till after the general elections.
Read also: President Tinubu Not Discriminating Any Region—Power Minister
Consequently, the House had also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make special arrangement for students to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
The pleas followed adoption of a motion on matters of urgent public importance moved by Honorable Kabiru Ibrahim Tukura at the plenary on Thursday.
Read also: Dangote Inaugurates N15bn Nationwide Palliatives Distribution In Kano
Presenting the motion, Hon. Tukura said that the academic calendars of tertiary institutions have been structured to disenfranchise students as they have not considered the dates of the elections.
He said, “According to available statistics, there are over 2.1 million students currently studying in Nigerian universities while over 2.4 million are students in Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Colleges of Education.
Read also: We’ve No Plan To Impeach Senate President–Sen. Kawu Sumaila
“3.8 million of the newly registered voters are students accounting for 40.8 percent of the total number of newly registered voters as stated by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu at the Commission’s 2022 third quarterly meeting with political parties in Abuja”.
The House adopted the motion and mandated its Committees on Tertiary education and Electoral Matters to liase with the agencies to facilitate the process and report back within one week.
